Howard Ashman directing Paige O’Hara (Belle), Richard White (Gaston), Jerry Orbach (Lumiere),

Howard Ashman directing Paige O’Hara (Belle), Richard White (Gaston), Jerry Orbach (Lumiere), and Angela Lansbury (Mrs. Potts) during a music recording session for Beauty and the Beast on June 8, 1990

“There was just an incredibly thrill to be able to walk into that studio in New York and have this full orchestra and this full chorus performing this stuff live. I mean, we created the soundtrack for Beauty and the Beast like, like a Broadway cast album! What I admired about Howard was he nevergave vague direction. He never gave any direction that was, like, kind of namby-pamby or wishy-washy. He was veryspecific right down to, to, ‘When we get to this word, could you stress this word more than the previous word?’ He was just extremely specific and focused as to what he wanted.” - Kirk Wise, one of the directors of Beauty and the Beast

footage from the documentary Howard (2018), dir. Don Hahn

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