The First Act

Has your work changed since Howard’s death?

The biggest
change that happened when Howard became ill and after he
died was that I had to assume a certain amount of
control, when Howard had clearly been the boss. I was
the composer, but he was the lyricist, book writer,
and director, and those three hats certainly had him
pointing the finger and saying, “Let’s
do this.” I was a very strong collaborator with
him, but it was very clear that I was more the catalyst and
he was the spark. Then I had to reach over and grab
the flame as we were finishing Aladdin and bringing
Beauty and the Beast to the stage. I had to become
comfortable representing both of us. When he was alive, I
knew that anything I thought was absolutely the right
thing. We'd come into a meeting and Howard would say,
“No, no, it’s gotta be like this.” And
I’d go, “Oh, of course you’re
right.” I hope I’ve gained a lot of wisdom
since then, and I think he approves, wherever he is, of the
choices I’ve made.

Bringing The Little Mermaid to the stage
must be very bittersweet.

Oh, it’s
always bittersweet. Every day is bittersweet. Trying to
re-create the excitement of that collaboration is
impossible. You can’t re-create two young
writers in their early 30s coming together and writing
[God Bless You, Mr.] Rosewater, Little Shop of
Horrors, and experiencing Howard’s very rare and
unique ability to channel all kinds of American pop,
theater, and fascinating musical styles through
stories in a really hip, funny way. I know, had Howard
lived, we would’ve written countless other projects
together, and I’m sure my career
would’ve been quite different being a part of that
collaboration. He and I both were in other collaborations as
well, but I don’t think any of them were equal.
I think it was important for him to maintain sort of
an independence—same thing for me. It’s hard
to say whether there would’ve been an Ashman
and Menken like Kander and Ebb and Rodgers and
Hammerstein, but we were very close. We were like brothers,
but at the same time, we kind of chafed at that.

How did your being straight and his being gay
affect your working dynamic?

It was great, but
it was just the way it was. At the time I was working
with Howard, all of the collaborators I was working with
were gay -- Tom Eyen, Steve Brown. I lost all of them
in one two-year period. It was a whole world of people
who perished in one giant tsunami wave. Frankly,
through most of it, I and other people kept saying “
Well, but Howard’s OK” -- because he
kept it from us. And then Howard was not OK.

You’ve been married to a woman for about 35
years. But because you’re in musical theater, do
you think that some people just assume
you’re gay too?

Why, you know
something? [Laughs] You may know better than I do. I
don’t know and I don’t care. It
doesn’t really matter to me. I do find it
weird, on some of my projects, to say, “Look at this,
it’s an old heterosexual team!” It is
kind of strange sometimes. I don’t know if
there’s a difference in sensibility, but I’ve
treasured my collaborations with all of my gay
collaborators. But it’s hard to define, and
it’s probably not productive to define. Suffice
it to say, I loved Howard as much as I loved anybody
in my life.

What was it like for you when Beauty and the
Beast closed in July 2007 after more than 13 years
on Broadway?

It’s very
emotional. I wish it didn’t have to close -- and it
didn’t, really. Part of it was calculated. In
terms of Howard’s memory, you hate to see one
chapter end. But I feel like Howard’s an active part
of my life now, because so much of what I do is still
involved with stuff we’ve done. And I believe
there will be many future permutations, spin-offs, and
ways of interpreting Beauty and the Beast and the
work we did in it.

How did you approach Enchanted considering
that, in many ways, it’s a spoof of your
signature genre?

Well, even with
Little Mermaid there was a spoof aspect to what
we were doing. “True Love’s Kiss”
is really a spoof on Snow White, so that was
OK. When it came to “Happy Working Song,” when
she's calling the woodland creatures but it’s
really the rats, cockroaches, and pigeons, that was
more of a spoof of Belle [from Beauty and the
Beast]--but just so loving. It’s not really
making fun of the other projects or what I’ve
done. It’s a very gentle spoof.