Priscilla Lopez

Early life

Lopez was born in the Bronx, New York to Francisco Lopez, a hotel banquet foreman and Laura (née Candelaria), who had moved to New York from their native Puerto Rico.

Career

Broadway

Lopez graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts, where she majored in drama. Had Tiffany's survived, it would have marked her debut on Broadway, but the production was plagued with so many problems that its creative team deemed it impossible to fix. From there, she moved on to Henry, Sweet Henry, which lasted only two months at the end of 1967, when she was 19 years old. Her luck was no better the following year when Her First Roman lasted two weeks.

Nevertheless, Lopez continued to work and earn credits, most notably as a replacement in featured roles in Company, choreographed by Michael Bennett, and Pippin, choreographed by Bob Fosse. When Michael Bennett helped organize the workshops leading to A Chorus Line, he recruited Lopez based on his experience with her. A Chorus Line (1975) had Lopez portraying Diana Morales, a character patterned after herself. She introduced the hit song "What I Did for Love", and sang "Nothing", a song about a disastrously unsupportive drama class at the High School of Performing Arts.

In A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine (1980), Lopez stepped out of the ensemble and into the spotlight, displaying her comedic and vocal skills. The show had two acts, first a mini-musical about the early days of movie making, by Dick Vosburgh and Frank Lazarus with additional material by Jerry Herman, and second a send-up of the slapstick Marx Brothers movies, with Lopez playing Harpo. Both she and the show received rave reviews; it ran nearly a year-and-a-half, and she earned a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. In 1982, Tommy Tune, with whom she had worked in Hollywood/Ukraine, hired her as his assistant on Nine, the musical version of the Federico Fellini film 8½. Midway through the run, she joined the cast taking over for Tony-winner Liliane Montevecchi in the role of Liliane La Fleur. Lopez also appeared on Broadway in the critically acclaimed play Anna in the Tropics in 2003. From 2008 to 2011, Lopez appeared as Camilla in the Broadway production of In the Heights. She took over the role of Berthe in the revival of Pippin from Annie Potts on July 22, 2014 through August 31 2014.

Off-Broadway

Her off-Broadway credits include Other People's Money, Key Exchange, Extremities, The Oldest Profession, Beauty of the Father and Class Mother '68, for which she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance. She was featured in the City Center Encores! production of Babes in Arms.

In 2021, Lopez was featured as Mabel in the internet musical Ratatouille: The Tiktok Musical, referencing both "Nothing" and "What I Did For Love" with alternated lyrics for the character and situation. Lopez starred in The Gardens of Anuncia, a musical by Michael John LaChiusa about the life of Graciela Daniele, portraying the older version of Daniele.

Television

Lopez starred as a liberal nun in an unsuccessful Norman Lear series In the Beginning with McLean Stevenson in 1978. She had a guest role on the ABC drama Family, starring Kristy McNichol and Sada Thompson; she played Buddy's (McNichol) dance friend in the disco episodes. In 1983, she was the voice of Herself the Elf in the animated TV special The Magic of Herself the Elf. She had a key role in the short-lived 1986 medical drama Kay O'Brien. In 1993, Lopez starred in the television movie For the Love of My Child: The Anissa Ayala Story, in which she played a mother who, along with her husband, conceives a child to provide a suitable bone-marrow donor for their older daughter. Other television work includes L.A. Law, Law & Order, All in the Family, Trapper John, M.D., Cosby, and B Positive. In 2021, she portrayed Abuela Sofia in the Disney Channel Original Movie, Christmas...Again?!.

Film

She had a brief role in Center Stage, and she appeared in Maid in Manhattan playing the mother of Jennifer Lopez's character, and had a role in the film version of the long-running off-Broadway hit Tony n' Tina's Wedding. She appeared in the film Musical Chairs as the disapproving mother of E.J. Bonilla's character.

Stage credits

Awards and nominations

Personal life

Lopez is married to Vincent Fanuele; they have two children, Alex and Gabriella."Priscilla Lopez returns to Broadway in 'In the Heights'", New York Daily News, March 6, 2008

References

References

1. (2014). "Priscilla Lopez (The Bronx Walk of Fame, 2014 inductees)".
2. (28 February 2008). "From Priscilla Lopez, the lowdown on 'In the Heights'".
3. Sommers, Michael.[http://www.nj.com/entertainment/arts/index.ssf/2008/02/from_priscilla_lopez_the_lowdo.html "From Priscilla Lopez, the lowdown on 'In the Heights'"] "New Jersey Star-Ledger", February 28, 2008
4. "The Gardens of Anuncia".
5. "Priscilla Lopez – AboutTheArtists".
6. "Priscilla Lopez – Broadway Cast & Staff".
7. "Priscilla Lopez – Playbill Vault".