Up Here

Infuses the magic of Broadway into what might otherwise have been a mundane romantic comedy.

As the show progresses, we get to know him [Miguel] and Lindsay better so that by the third episode of the season, they feel more like people than the types we met in the pilot. The songs also get better, no longer so achingly earnest and striving but rather expressing real human experiences. ... By the time Lindsay and Miguel celebrate the turn of the millennium in the finale, “Up Here” had fully captured me.

What Hulu’s Up Here, the latest romantic-comedy-musical about a writer in New York City, may lack in terms of originality, it has an annoying tendency to counterbalance with undeniable charm.

It gets repetitive and dull, though the musical numbers should help maintain some viewer interest.

If Up Here doesn't quite fill the void left by Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist's cancellation, I'll settle for a happy ending and a few new earworms. [27 Mar - 9 Apr 2023, p.4]

The struggle to be true to yourself while reinventing yourself: a potentially rich theme. ... But the emotional journey there is more cloying than moving. Lindsay and Miguel break up and reconcile repeatedly. If you bail on this relationship halfway through, it’s unlikely you’ll come crawling back.

Blessed with an A-plus creative pedigree that includes the director of “Hamilton,” writer of “Tick, Tick … Boom!” and songwriters behind “Frozen,” “Up Here” joins the growing list of musical series, in what amounts to a young-adult version of “Inside Out.” The show, however, isn’t as good as its auspices, and the music can’t mask the thinness of the story, translating into a pretty flat episodic rom-com, just with a better-than-average beat.

I wish the story line were a little less predictable and trite, as the pair fall apart and get together a few times. Whitman and Valdes are charming enough, but they’re caught in a will-they-or-won’t-they situation that has nothing fresh to offer and songs that too-often fail to rouse or move.

There isn’t anything particularly big or exciting about it in the way one would have hoped for a final hurrah. However, after some of the more meandering musical numbers before it, at least it offers something a little more emotionally engaging. It just is a shame that it lost its way long before we were able to get there.

While Lindsay and Miguel’s issues go to some dark places, they too get glossed over by narrative forgetfulness, superficial optimism and rom-com contrivances. That makes for light entertainment with a few good hooks. But considering the star power, “Up Here” really should have been more mind-blowing.

Up Here has its charms, first and foremost a pair of winning lead performances by Carlos Valdes and Mae Whitman. But there’s a disappointing shallowness to the entire affair, even after all the time spent delving into the characters’ innermost psyches.