Fresh off of their third Oscar nomination for Best Original Song for Frozen 2’s “Into the Unknown”, Kristen and Bobby Lopez are wasting no time jumping back into the movie musical arena.
Playbill has learned exclusively from the Lopezes: “Our next movie musical project is with Marc Platt and it is a musical version of a graphic novel called The Prince and the Dressmaker.”
The team is working with Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Herzog (4000 Miles) to adapt the graphic novel by Jen Wang.
Set in Paris, the story follows Prince Sebastian, whose parents are scouring the country for a bride for their son. But Sebastian leads a secret life. By night, he dons spectacular dresses and goes out as Lady Crystallia, a Parisian fashion icon. His best friend, dressmaker Frances, is the only one who knows the truth, and she doesn’t want the credit for her creations to be secret anymore.
The novel hit shelves February 13, 2018. No timeline for this musical movie adaptation has been announced.
Together, the Lopezes have written the scores for the full length features Frozen, Coco, and Frozen 2—all for Disney. They again collaborated on bringing Frozen to the Broadway stage, co-writing music and lyrics. They won the Oscar for Best Original Song for Frozen’s “Let It Go” and Coco’s “Remember Me.” They were nominated for the Tony Award for Best Original Score in 2018 for Frozen on Broadway. Frozen 2 will be released on 4K and Blu-ray on February 25.
READ: Go Back to Where It All Began For Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez
Anderson-Lopez co-conceived and co-wrote the book, music, and lyrics to Broadway’s first-ever a cappella musical In Transit, which bowed at the Circle in the Square Theatre in 2016. Lopez made his Broadway debut as the composer-lyricist of Avenue Q, which he also co-conceived. He also co-wrote the book, music, and lyrics for the long-running The Book of Mormon. Lopez is a three-time Tony Award winner: for the score of Avenue Q, and for the book and score of Book of Mormon. He is a two-time EGOT winner, having won two Emmys, three Grammys, two Oscars, and three Tonys.
Herzog was a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play 4000 Miles, which first premiered at Lincoln Center Theater. The play also earned her a 2012 Obie Award. She is also the author of such plays as After the Revolution, The Great God Pan, Belleville, and Mary Jane—the latter two of which each earned her spots as a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. In 2008, she won the Helen Merrill Award for Aspiring Playwrights. In 2011, she won both the Whiting Award and the Lilly Award for playwriting. Last year, she was honored with the Horton Foote Playwriting Award.
It was just announced that 4000 Miles will play London, starring Timothée Chalamet and Eileen Atkins, directed by Matthew Warchus.
The trio are actively working on the musical, produced by Marc Platt, who most recently produced—in the movie musical realm—Mary Poppins Returns, Rent on Fox, and the live-action Aladdin. He also has the movie musicals The Little Mermaid (live-action remake) and Dear Evan Hansen on his slate of upcoming projects.
