LOS ANGELES – When the pandemic shut down New York theaters, Tony-winning director Thomas Kail called a number of friends and asked, β€œDo you have anything you want to do for TV?”

Interestingly, β€œFrozen’s” Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez had a musical they thought could work in a streaming format.

Other friends joined the cause: β€œDear Evan Hansen’s” Steven Levenson signed on to write the script. β€œMoulin Rouge’s” Sonya Tayeh agreed to choreograph.

β€œWe developed the whole series on Zoom,” says Levenson. Six to eight hours a day, he and fellow writer Danielle Sanchez-Witzel hammered out scripts.

β€œWe met 18 months later in person for the first time,” says Levenson. β€œIt was such a strange experience to make this musical.”

The result: β€œUp Here,” which tracks a relationship in the late 1990s. β€œIt is so strange how much of this series was conceived on screens and not actually together,” Levenson says.

The interesting rub: social media wasn’t around to complicate the coupling. β€œThings were just different then,” Sanchez-Witzel says. β€œYou really had to make an effort to meet people, to get to know people. We weren’t just texting each other.”

The concept, Lopez says, involved getting into someone’s head. β€œThere are a lot of songs and emotion and yearning going on in everyone’s head that you never get to see…what about a show like that?”

Anderson-Lopez says it’s about finding your soulmate.

The musical pairs two seemingly disparate people in New York. She’s an aspiring writer; he’s a mid-level executive.

Mae Whitman and Carlos Valdes play the couple. Neither had starred in a musical.

β€œBeing a child actor, going in front of a camera is no big deal,” Whitman says. β€œBut there’s something about singing that is so terrifying because it’s like the direct window to my soul.”

β€œWhat was challenging for me was rendering that emotional life for (his character) and just laying that bare in front of the camera,” says Valdes. β€œI had to trust the music. I had to trust all the other components.”

Luckily, the produced team created what they called β€œUp Here University,” where the actors could practice dancing on one floor, singing on another. β€œWe basically recorded an album and rehearsed every single dance number every day for a month before we even started filming,” says Whitman. β€œThere was this bonding experience that happened before we even began filming.”

Adds Kail: β€œThat’s where the intersection of ideas also happens. I’m a big believer in trying to build ensembles as quickly as you can. And when you have Mae and Carlos leading the group, you’re already in excellent hands.”

Those connected with the series realized it was impossible to remove the songs from an episode. β€œThe episode wouldn’t work,” Levenson says. β€œAnd so that was always our goal – to building something where the songs would be integral to the story. Instead of eight episodes of television we decided this was eight mini-musicals that would add up to one series-long musical.”

Without cellphones to affect the relationship, Whitman found she had to notice her surroundings and β€œgather information from what’s in front of you. It was like a dream for me.”

Valdes, who starred on β€œThe Flash,” had done musical theater but hadn’t starred in one on camera. β€œIt felt like this perfect little confluence of influences in my life, so it kind of elevated the auditioning experience.”

When he realized what β€œUp Here” could be, β€œI felt there was a sort of rightness about it. It was very easy to let go of any of those voices of insecurity or doubt that sort of constantly intermingle in my head.”

Anderson-Lopez says Valdes understood what the creative team was trying to do. β€œHe has an amazing musicality. But he also really understood the humor of big feelings.”

Lopez says the β€œUp Here” experience could lead to more TV musicals. β€œThere’s never been a generation of musical theater songwriters that have loved TV as much as this generation,” he explains. β€œThat’s the thing we grew up watching and we’re still watching. We feel very lucky to be a part of it.”

β€œUp Here” begins March 24 on Hulu.

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