Disney’s musical retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen quickly became the most successful animated film of all time. Husband-wife songwriters Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez say the studio’s traditional team ethos was crucial to forging their chart-topping music. “Each song needed to bear its storytelling weight,” Bobby says. “As a result, a lot of the songs ended up on the floor as the story changed.” Canadian composer Christophe Beck helped the Lopezes with arrangements, but says his greatest contribution was “taking every opportunity to incorporate the tunes from the songs as instrumental themes in the score. I think it creates a really cohesive musical experience.”
