Mae Whitman falls in love in first trailer for '90s musical rom-com Up Here

Mae Whitman got by with a little help from her friends when she was feeling nervous about the audition for her upcoming musical rom-com series Up Here. "I was absolutely terrified," Whitman tells EW. "Singing, for me, is like bearing my vulnerable, bleeding soul. But I had so much support from so many of my friends — Lauren Graham took me out to sushi and gave me a four-hour-long pep talk because I was so nervous."

That sushi date with her Parenthood onscreen mom ended up giving her the confidence she needed to crush it at the audition, and now Whitman is the star of Hulu's new original musical series from Steven Levenson, the screenwriter of Tick, Tick... Boom!, Tommy Kail, director of Hamilton, and songwriting duo Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (The Book of Mormon, Frozen, WandaVision). "Just look at who's involved — it's so unbelievable," Whitman says. "It's the uppermost echelon of every person in their category that I could ever want to work with in this industry. I couldn't believe that a project could have all these incredible people attached."

Set in the late '90s in New York City, Up Here tells the story of Lindsay (Whitman) and Miguel (Carlos Valdes, The Flash) as they meet, fall in love, and try to overcome the biggest obstacle in the way of their relationship: their own insecurities, fears, doubts, and trauma that make too much noise inside their heads (literally!). "It's definitely not like anything I've ever done and definitely also not like anything I've ever seen," Whitman says. "I hope people feel inspired by it, and I hope it makes people feel safer about their vulnerabilities and their trauma and whatever defense mechanisms they have that they feel they're trapped by. It's how I felt about Parenthood — it makes me feel less alone."

Reading the scripts for Up Here, she was moved by how the series tackles issues she was dealing with in her own life. "The themes are so deep that I find myself even talking about them in therapy," she says. "It's that concept of letting go of the illusion of control, and thinking that we can know everything and that we should try to know absolutely everything about a person before we move forward with them, or we should try to control the outcome and then go through the maze backwards so we don't get hurt. I also really loved that it has these themes of mental health and paying attention to taking care of yourself and being aware of where your trauma comes from and working through that in a way that is also really funny and light and kind."

The fact that Up Here takes place in 1999 was also a big reason why Whitman fell in love with this series. "I love the clothes, I love the music, I love the time period — the best part about it is there's no phones," Whitman says with a laugh. "It adds this nostalgic and mysterious enigmatic overtone to the whole show. I remember Lauren Graham telling me, 'In my day, we would have to leave a post-it note on each other's doors in college and be like, 'I'm going to be at this place at this time, I hope you can come.' It's really reminiscent of the early '90s rom-coms, when you're just rooting for these two characters to be together despite everything working against them."

And as for the music, Whitman keeps pinching herself that she gets to sing original songs by Broadway royalty. "They're so catchy and clever and vulnerable and brilliant. They're just on another level," she says. "I feel so deeply proud that I'm part of an incredible musical with some of the most talented people that are on the face of the earth in this industry. It's so whimsical and funny and strange and you will see some things that you'll be like, 'Definitely never thought I would see that on television.' I am just happy to be here to be a part of this, honestly. It felt like it was the culmination of everything I wanted to do in my career. I really am Lindsay, and this is the exact right fit."

Check out EW's exclusive first look at the trailer below now:

All episodes of Up Here premiere March 24 on Hulu.

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