Former Charlottean gets sweet breakfast treat: Her 1st Tony nomination, for 'Frozen'
Former Charlottean Kristen Anderson-Lopez might want to re-think the rule in her family that prohibits her daughters from having sugary cereals except on their birthdays.
After all, on Tuesday morning, Anderson-Lopez and her husband Robert Lopez learned that they'd earned their first Tony Award nomination as a couple — for the songs they wrote for Disney's hit musical "Frozen" — while their daughter Annie sat next to them celebrating her ninth birthday by downing a bowl of toasted oat cereal with colored marshmallows.
"They get one day a year that they get to have sugary cereal, and she chose Lucky Charms with unicorn marshmallows," Anderson-Lopez said by phone from New York City Tuesday, with a laugh, after dropping Annie and a batch of birthday cupcakes off at school. (Their other daughter, Katie, is 13.) "So from now on, if we have a nomination, I'm gonna need to get Lucky Charms — because they were our lucky charm."
The Lopezes' nomination for Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre comes on the heels of the pair's Best Original Song win at the Academy Awards in March for "Remember Me," from Disney-Pixar's "Coco." ("Frozen" scored two other Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical. A complete list of Tony nominations is here.)
Robert Lopez already has three Tonys in his collection — one for 2004's "Avenue Q" and two more for 2011's "The Book of Mormon" — but this marks the first Tony recognition for the 46-year-old Anderson-Lopez, who attended Charlotte Country Day School from 1986-1990.
"I am incredibly happy and so grateful to be included," said Anderson-Lopez, who last year was passed over for a nomination as co-creator of the a cappella musical "In Transit." "I know what it feels like to sit there and watch the screen and not see your name. And I have to say, the blessing in that is that it makes the moment that you sit there and your name does come up all the sweeter."
There was initially at least a little bit of doubt about whether "Frozen's" score would be Tony Awards-eligible because a portion of it — including the ubiquitous anthem "Let It Go," which previously earned the Lopezes an Oscar — came from the 2013 Disney movie of the same name.
But while the movie had just seven songs ("seven and a half if you count 'Reindeers Are Better Than People," Anderson-Lopez said), the musical adaptation encompasses at least 21 (more if you count reprises). The awards committee approved the score's eligibility last month.
"My husband and I put almost everything we have into this show for the last three years," Anderson-Lopez said, adding that it was at least double the amount of work compared to the movie. "Our lives have been scheduled around it, our vacations, where we live and what choices we make with what we do with our kids. All of it was scheduled around getting this giant Broadway show out into the world."
"Frozen" opened at the St. James Theatre on Broadway on March 22 and has proved, perhaps to no one's surprise, to be a monster hit at the box office. The framework of the story is the same as the movie, but the new songs further develop the relationship between sisters Elsa and Anna.
And the "Frozen" universe will continue to dominate the Lopezes' lives for awhile longer.
They just recently completed work on the Original Broadway Cast Recording (the album will be available on digital platforms May 11, with a physical release following June 8). Their daughter Annie is going back this Sunday to see the musical again, with her cousin, as she continues to celebrate her birthday. On top of that, the couple is deep into writing songs for the "Frozen" movie sequel.
Two Wednesdays ago, Anderson-Lopez said, "we wrote a song for 'Frozen 2' that afternoon, we recorded it with Kristen Bell last Monday, and it's in the screening — the second screening, which is basically like a second draft of the movie, just scribbled, so you can see if the story's holding up — that we'll see on Thursday morning in L.A."
"Frozen 2" is set to launch in theaters on Nov. 27, 2019.
Meanwhile, the 72nd annual Tony Awards will be held at Radio City Music Hall on June 10, and something tells us Anderson-Lopez may relax the rule on sugary cereals that morning...
This story was originally published May 1, 2018 at 8:52 AM with the headline "Former Charlottean gets sweet breakfast treat: Her 1st Tony nomination, for 'Frozen'."