I was fortunate enough to sit down with director Thomas Kail about his new project, Up Here, a brand-new musical romantic comedy set in New York City in the waning days of 1999, following the extraordinary story of one ordinary couple, as they fall in love – and discover that the single greatest obstacle to finding happiness together might just be themselves – and the treacherous world of memories, obsessions, fears, and fantasies that lives inside their heads.
Up Here is written by Steven Levenson (“tick, tick…BOOM!”, “Dear Evan Hansen”) and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel (“The Carmichael Show”) with songwriting duo Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (“Frozen,” “WandaVision”) writing original songs. “Hamilton’s” Thomas Kail directs and executive produces the series alongside Levenson, Sanchez-Witzel, Anderson-Lopez, Lopez, and Jennifer Todd. 20th Television serves as the production company alongside Kail’s Old 320 Sycamore Productions.
Thomas Kail Talks All Things ‘Up Here’
Josh: First off, congratulations on the series. I had a really fun time bingeing it. To start with, what was it that brought you to this project? Was there anything that sort of that you really liked about the series?
Thomas Kail: Yes, I really liked Kristen and Bobby Lopez, so I’ve been friendly with Kristin and Bobby for years, and then I’d been trying to find something to do with them on stage and trying to find something to do with them on screen. This felt like something that allowed both those things to happen. So I knew that they had lots of ideas that they were working on. So I reached out to them in March of 2020, maybe April 2020, that time we all remember so well. I asked them if there’s anything that they’d been working on or were currently working on, that they thought could live in the serialized form, and they said, “You know, there was a musical that we started 13 years ago”, and I said, “Oh, you mean Up Here?”
I remember when they were developing it and they said, Yes. And I said, What do you think? And they said, We’ve always wanted to revisit it, and maybe this would be an opportunity. We all decided to go for it and then brought in our pal Stephen Levinson, who I’d worked with on Fosse/Verdon, and they had admired and been friendly with over the years and so we asked Stephen to join us, and then eventually our friend Danielle Sanchez to come and join the band. So for me, it often starts with who and then it goes into the what I just really was interested in the notion of trying to make an original musical on television. And I thought, who better to do that with than Bobby, Kristen, Stephen and Danielle?
Josh: As for the music in the show, are there any songs that tickled your fancy? Is there a favorite one in particular?
Thomas Kail: Oh, wow. I mean, I have to say. I think there’s maybe 20 songs in the show and in eight episodes, right? So that’s a lot of music. There are a couple that’s certainly stick because, boy, can can they write a hook?Obviously, I think some of the sort of the bigger thematic ones. “Who Am I?” – I really like in the second episode. I really love “Tiger Shark”, “Falling in Love” is one that I really like, “Chapter Two”. So I like some of the ballads. I mean, I think what’s so wonderful about the way that they write is that the character always leads. So it has to be about story, it has to be about character. and they all feel like complete expressions of thoughts that are musical lives. They worked so closely with Stephen and Danielle, which is always feel a piece. So that’s something that I really appreciate about it. But I mean, I got to admit, they write some bops.
Josh: What was it like directing Mae Whitman and Carlos Valdes? I think their on-screen chemistry is one of the highlights of the show. I just think they’re the two great screen partners.
Thomas Kail: I feel the same way, it was a joy. You know, they’re both incredibly adept and so skilful. So you know that you have all of the craft part there. Then they’re also deeply emotional, they’re not afraid to be vulnerable. They know how to express the thing that they’re looking for with real clarity. So that’s always helpful as I’m trying to help guide them. Also, they love music, and so the music sort of pours out of them. But it was it was easeful working with them. It was just, “how can we do this? How can we make it better? What do you need?” Then there was nothing we ever asked them to do that they weren’t able to do. It was a really terrific partnership.
Josh: Obviously, Up Here deals with inner voices. If for some reason, you had to pick someone you’ve worked with to be one of your inner voices for – who would you go for?
Thomas Kail: I will say, like often it’s your collaborators. So there’s definitely, a Kristen, a Bobby and a Stephen somewhere, you know, Danielle talking to me. Often I think that is something that I love about collaboration, when I’m putting together a number that has dance in it, I hear Sonia’s voice, you know, I hear our DP’s voice. So I tend to think it’s whomever it is that I’m working with often is the person that gets in there. Luckily they’re all kind and no one raises their voice. So any of them are welcome.
Up Here is now streaming on Hulu and Disney+. Check out a trailer below:
