Hulu’s musical comedy “Up Here” with Mae Whitman and Carlos Valdes soars to new heights

Los Angeles — What do you get when you combine a rom-com with a musical and then sprinkle it with some ’90s nostalgia? You’ll get “Up Here,” Hulu’s new series that premieres this week.

Mae Whitman plays Lindsey, who moves from her small town to New York City to pursue her dreams of becoming a writer. She meets businessman Miguel, played by Carlos Valdez and the series follows their blossoming relationship. All the while, they both have a chorus of voices inside their heads filling them with negative thoughts and doubts.

Whitman told On The Red Carpet, “It just feels like a whole new genre, really. It’s like a complete original musical in a mini-series.” She also said that it felt like a manifestation of all her dream projects.

Valdez added, “It’s very clearly influenced by other things and it really pays homage to a lot of those other things, but overall it’s like a different, quirky kind of monster that’s both familiar and fun as well.”

Composer and co-executive producer Kristen Anderson-Lopez called the show “a subversive and exhilarating look at the big feelings we have…and the way we have these huge songs that live in our heads that we don’t let anyone else see and the obstacle that arises when two people try to understand and know each other.” some.”

Kristen and her husband, Robert, are award-winning composers who have worked on “Frozen” and “Coco,” so you know they know their way around catchy melody. They brought that expertise to the writers’ room for Up Here to collaborate with the entire creative team.

“We had an idea in the morning and then Bobby and I would go to the piano,” Kristin said. “And then by the time the collaborators room is done, at the end of the day, we’ll be like, Does this work? Does this look good?”

“It was like being in group therapy, but you’re allowed to write songs about the other people in the room,” Robert added.

As for the voices inside their heads that guide them through life? Robert joked, “Stephen Sondheim is always on my shoulder saying ‘This is no good! ‘” “

Watch more of our interview and hear a little preview of the soundtrack in the video above.

“Up Here” premieres on Hulu Friday, March 24.

The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of Hulu and this ABC station.