One last “why Menken/Ashman are in yr house, eating yr dinner” post from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST – I’m almost done rhapsodizing about how theatrical it is. First, Gaston has Lady M’s line, “Screw your courage to the sticking place!” They just throw it in there, in perfect rhythm with the rest of it. And then, I realized that the “No one fights like Gaston” number is totally that amazing number you give the character actor, the one who doesn’t get the girl…it’s the “Sit Down, You’re Rocking The Boat” or even the “Make Them Laugh” of this movie.

So good.

Lyricist Howard Ashman died of AIDS six months before the film was released, which is something I also didn’t know in 1991.