By Charlene Baldridge

There’s enough production expenditure before our eyes to feed a frugal family of four for 50 years. Well, perhaps that’s an exaggeration, but La Jolla Playhouse’s world-premiere production of “Up Here” (book, music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez) is all about exaggerating and breaking traditions.

It is gaudy, big and brash, and features the mind of man in all its permutations — the self-critic, the pervert, the overly analytical — all hyper-kinetic and noisy parts of the psyche that prevent deep connection to, and empathy for, others.

We are so distracted by listening to ourselves, we don’t listen to or share with others. Furthermore, we are intent on “educating” others to feel and think as we do, and when they don’t, we abuse them for their ignorance. The “we,” of course, is modern-day narcissistic humanity and the “up there” of the musical’s title refers to the axons and dendrites that make up the individual’s galaxy or horde of internal advisers.

The mind in question is that of Dan, the Computer Man (Matt Bittner, a simply marvelous singer), who falls for a Mac user named Lindsay (Betsy Wolfe) when he’s called in to save her dead hard drive.

The book of the musical consists of guy-meets-gal, gets-gal and loses-gal (Getting from A to B to C takes up the entire first act. The second act concerns getting girl back) because of his clamorous inner world, some benevolent, some downright nasty. These “up there” are played by an ensemble of 20 directed by Alex Timbers, costumed by Ann Closs-Farley, choreographed by Joshua Bergasse, fight-directed by George Yé, lighted by David J. Weiner, and amplified by Peter Sylenski. They are accompanied by a 10-piece orchestra (Music Director/incidental music by Aron (sic) Accurso, orchestrations by Dave Metzger, and vocal arrangements by Robert Lopez). And don’t forget the puppets by Michelle Zamora.

Don’t fail to note the Child (wonderful Giovanni Cozic) who punctuates the show, appearing and prefacing his remarks, “Meanwhile …”. The musical’s most astonishing scene, musically and dramaturgically (the chorus sings counterpoint), is the 11th-hour duet between Dan and the Child. Another top scene is played by Eric Petersen (Lindsay’s challenged brother, Tim) as he woos his former boss (Zonya Love) in the song “There’s No Such Thing as the Number One” at the Best Buy she runs. Tim is the show’s most appealing, most fleshed out, most sympathetic character. Though they are given numerous appealing songs and duets (“I Have No Idea What I’m Doing,” “I Feel Like I’ve Always Known You,” and “I Can Never Know You,” among others), Dan and Lindsay are ciphers until the second act; he because of his annoying entourage and she because we’ve no idea what really makes her tick.

All the makings of a Broadway hit are here. They just need to be tamed, refined and clarified. Maybe that will happen during the rest of the Playhouse engagement.

—Charlene Baldridge has been writing about the arts since 1979. You can follow her blog at charlenebaldridge.com or reach her at [email protected].