Released November 11, 2008 Producer Steve Nelson Release date 11 November 2008 Genre Musical theatre | Recorded 1984-1991 | |
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Musicals Beauty and the Beast, High School Musical 2, Godspell (1971 Off‑Broad, A Teenage Opera | ||
Howard Sings Ashman is a two-disc album compiled by PS Classics as part of their Songwriter Series. The album features Howard Ashman singing selections from his musicals, including God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1979), Little Shop of Horrors (1982), Smile (1986), The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Aladdin (1992).
Contents
Production
The album is produced with the assistance and cooperation of Howard's sister Sarah Ashman Gillespie, and his life partner William Lauch. According to PS Classics website, the album "captures the diverse and memorable accomplishments of one of the geniuses of the contemporary American musical theatre."
The album consists of private demo recordings of Howard Ashman. The first disc has 18 tracks which feature Howard's works with Alan Menken, including hits such as Little Shop of Horrors, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, deleted songs from Aladdin, songs from lesser known musical called God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, individual tracks from Diamonds (with Jonathan Sheffer) and a song from the unfinished musical Babe.
The second disc, called to be as a bonus CD, features 15 complete demo tracks from Ashman's collaboration with Marvin Hamlisch, the Broadway musical Smile. Smile was a short-lived show about a beauty pageant and was not given a cast album, which gives Howard Sings Ashman a true rarity.
Songs
Da-Doo (from Little Shop of Horrors)1:26
Typical High School Senior (from Smile)5:13
Welcom to Santa Rosa4:57