"I want the musical to show people the depths of human lows, and then to lift them back up in a really true way, past where they would normally go."
—Robert Lopez, The Book of Mormon: The Testament of a Broadway Musical
Robert Lopez (born February 23, 1975) is a rather versatile and witty songwriter, who rose into prominence during the early 21st century. With help from such collaborators as BMI Workshop classmate Jeffrey Marx, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and Bobby's wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez, he has found success writing for both the stage and the screen, which helped him become the first person to achieve The EGOT multiple times.
Theatre
- Avenue Q (with Jeffrey Marx)
- The Book of Mormon (with Trey Parker and Matt Stone)
- Finding Nemo: The Musical (with Kristen Anderson-Lopez)
- Up Here (with Kristen Anderson-Lopez)
- Frozen (with Kristen Anderson-Lopez)
TV
- Wonder Pets! (with several other musicians)
- Scrubs episode "My Musical" (with Jeffrey Marx)
- South Park episode "Broadway Bro Down" (with Trey Parker and Matt Stone)
- Phineas and Ferb episode "Magic Carpet Ride"
- The Simpsons episode "A Totally Fun Thing That Bart Will Never Do Again"
- Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return
- WandaVision (with Kristen Anderson-Lopez)
Film
- Winnie the Pooh (2011) (with Kristen Anderson-Lopez)
- Frozen
- Frozen (with Kristen Anderson-Lopez)
- Frozen Fever (with Kristen Anderson-Lopez)
- Frozen II (with Kristen Anderson-Lopez)
- Coco (with Kristen Anderson-Lopez for "Remember Me"; other songs written by other songwriters)
Lopez's works provide examples of:
- Affectionate Parody:
- His first two Broadway hits provided loving pastiches of Sesame Street (Avenue Q), and musicals in general (The Book of Mormon).
- For WandaVision, he and Kristen emulated Sitcom theme songs from different decades.
- Creator Cameo: He voices the "rumbly in [Pooh's] tumbly" in Winnie the Pooh (2011), for which he and Kristen Anderson-Lopez were the songwriters.
- The Internet Is for Porn: He helped write the Trope Naming song.
- Lyrical Dissonance: Among other examples, The Book of Mormon has a jubilant-sounding Crowd Song about cursing God ("Hasa Diga Eebowai") and Frozen has a triumphant-sounding solo about running away from life's problems ("Let it Go"). The latter actually started out as a Villain Song until hearing the demo, performed by Robert and his wife Kristen, inspired a complete restructuring of the film to make Elsa much more sympathetic, a Deuteragonist rather than a villain.
- Musicalis Interruptus: He invoked a real-life example in his second Oscar acceptance speech
(for "Remember Me"); when it started to run overtime, the Academy's stock music started playing, but after he thanked his recently-deceased mother, the cue suddenly stopped. - Rhymes on a Dime: In addition to his songs, he and Kristen Anderson-Lopez delivered their first Oscar acceptance speech (for "Let it Go") in rhyme.
