That I had to use a calculator to figure out how long ago Howard died is surely testament to my lack of basic computational skills. It is also testament to the power of time. I go from, “it was just yesterday” to “it was so very long ago” a few times a day over matters as pedestrian as buying milk and as singular as personal loss.
Read MoreIn 1982, the 92nd Street Y hosted an interview with a few theater luminaries. They’re all talented, relatively new guys on the block, with relatively recent hits. People like Maury Yeston (Nine) and Jimmy Kirkwood (A Chorus Line) and Howard Ashman. With a poster of Little Shop behind his head, Howard looks intense and solemn and maybe a little uncomfortable.
Read MoreHoward and I were raised in a family that worried, with very good reason, about money. Debt was a given, not a theory, in our home. There are two ways to come out of that family dynamic – being a spendthrift and being a skinflint. Howard was a bit more of a spendthrift than me (actually, Ebenezer Scrooge is more of a spendthrift than me) but we both worried about money and going broke.
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