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.
This sequence first feels rushed, and a too-late story-changing add-on. However, like all the other things that should not work in a long play, this finds its smooth right spot in the adept hands of Pepe and his very good cast, led by Driver. The actor masters the art of quiet bafflement and existential muddle. His furrowed brow is broken only by one extended moment of menace; when that happens, primed for a Driver explosion of some kind, you anticipate, ultimately in vain, the inevitable detonation. Instead, Hold on to Me Darling retains its subtle mischief, gentle unspooling, and dry execution right to the end, scoring a true original in the process—in this role, Adam Driver doesn’t go off.
2016 | Off-Broadway |
World Premiere Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
2024 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Revival Off-Broadway |
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