On this week's episode, the brilliant Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez gave us a peek into the family ties and subversive joy that fuel their amazingly successful musical collaborations. We covered the rough and tumble development history of “Frozen,” the surprising emotional power of “WandaVision,” the enduring flop appeal of “Dude,” and how “making it up as we go along” became a mantra for both pandemic survival and catchy TV theme song gold.
KRISTEN ANDERSON-LOPEZ and ROBERT LOPEZ are the Oscar, Emmy and Grammy award winning, married songwriting team behind the Disney animated films, Frozen and Frozen 2. Together they also wrote the Oscar winning song “Remember Me” from Pixar’s Coco, songs for Marvel’s WandaVision, and the Obama-produced We the People. Their adaptation of Frozen for the Broadway stage earned them a Tony nomination. Robert co-conceived and co-wrote the hit musicals Avenue Q and The Book of Mormon, both earning him Tony Awards. Kristen’s show In Transit made history as the first all a cappella musical to run on Broadway, after earning recognition at the Drama Desk, Drama League and Lucille Lortel Awards for its Off-Broadway run. Lopez and Anderson-Lopez have written for television, film and stage, including Finding Nemo: The Musical; songs for “The Wonder Pets” (two Emmy Award wins) and the Winnie the Pooh animated film. Lopez and Anderson-Lopez both serve on the Dramatist Guild Council. Graduates of Yale University and Williams College, respectively, they now reside in Brooklyn with their two daughters.