Howard Ashman and Hans Christian Andersen
Lyricist, playwright, producer and director Howard Ashman poses in front of a statue of Hans Christian Andersen in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1989. This was in the same year that Disney’s hit animated musical The Little Mermaid was released; Howard Ashman was the author of the lyrics to the songs for The Little Mermaid (later receiving an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and a Grammy), as well as some additional dialogue. Hans Christian Andersen was of course the author of the original Danish fairytale Den Lille Havfrue (The Little Mermaid). Ashman “gave a voice” to Andersen’s iconic character of the mermaid, bringing the heroine and her story into a new context, successfully ushering in the legendary Disney Renaissance.
