On learning of his mother’s death, country music icon Strings McCrane (Adam Driver) finds himself in an existential tailspin. The only way out, he decides, is to abandon superstardom in favor of the simple life, so he moves back to his hometown in Tennessee. The simple life turns out to be anything but simple in this brilliantly observed tragicomedy, as the consequences of Strings’s success and mind-bending effects of his fame prove all but impossible to outrun.
In Hold on to Me Darling Lonergan creates a protagonist at a loss as to who he is, spending nearly three hours remaining befuddled in a work that, as it motors along, doesn’t seem to know how to ease out of a repetitive plot dilemma. It’s an eight-scene drama, often peppered with genuine humor, that holds on to tense interest for maybe five of the scenes—and luckily the final one. For the remainder of its attenuated minutes, it merely tests audience goodwill.
Throughout the play’s somewhat meandering 2 hours 40 minutes, Driver does not hit a false note, a feat considering the aw-shucks, cowboy clichés lurking in the lines for less capable actors. And the slightly overlong story is helped along by a steady stream of laughs, remarkably more than expected given the premise. (Adam Driver dealing with grief and existential dread does not immediately evoke comedy.) But even when playing the whiny mama’s boy or entitled fame monster, his openness is magnetic, especially at such close range in the Lortel—an ideal venue for his gifts. One can’t help but fall to pieces.
2016 | Off-Broadway |
World Premiere Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
2024 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Revival Off-Broadway |
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