Day: March 21, 2023

Up here in their heads, a musical gem emerges

Early in the pandemic, a phone call linked three strong forces in musical storytelling.
“Tommy (Kail) gave us a call,” recalled Kristen Anderson-Lopez, “and said, ‘Hey, we’re not sure when we’re going to get back into the theater. Do you guys have anything you want to do for TV?’”
They did; her husband, Robert Lopez, started nurturing the idea 17 years ago. Now “Up Here”(shown here) arrives Friday (March 24) on Hulu, with all eight half-hours available at once
”Imagine this as eight mini-musicals that would add up to one season-long musical,” said Steven Levenson, who co-wrote the scripts and previously did “Tick, Tick … Boom” and “Fosse/Verdon.” Read more…

Best-bets for March 23: Basketball’s back, but so are soaps

1) Basketball. The second weekend of the college tournament begins, with only one game that fulfills predictions. That’s at 9:45 p.m. ET on CBS, when Gonzaga and UCLA (shown here), seeded No. 2 and 3 in their region; collide; at 7:15 on CBS, that region has Connecticut (No. 4) and Arkansas (No. 8). Elsewhere, TBS has Kansas State (No. 3) and Michigan State (No. 7) at 6:30 and Tennessee (No. 4) and Florida Atlantic (No. 9) at 9. Read more…