NEW YORK—Before making a meaningful change in life, a person needs to know exactly what kind of change they want to make. They also need to be truly serious about doing so. These issues are at the heart of the thoroughly enjoyable revival of Kenneth Lonergan’s comedic drama, “Hold on to Me Darling.” First seen at the Atlantic Theater Company in 2016, the play is currently at the off-Broadway Lucille Lortel Theatre.
With the passing of his beloved mother, tabloid darling and country music superstar Strings McCrane (Adam Driver) finds himself in emotional turmoil. He’s about to go on tour to promote his latest album, he’s in the midst of filming a movie in Kansas City, and he is returning to his Tennessee hometown, to attend her funeral.
In his hotel suite, he tells his longtime friend and assistant Jimmy (Keith Nobbs), how, at age 39, he’s tired of the celebrity life where everyone wants a piece of him. Believing his hard partying lifestyle disappointed his mother, he’s determined to rededicate his life to something meaningful. Subsequent conversations with Nancy (Heather Burns), a massage therapist at the hotel; his older half brother Duke (C.J. Wilson); and Essie (Adelaide Clemens), his now grown-up second cousin twice removed, only serve to strengthen this conviction.
Several who hear Strings’s anguished utterances, however, can’t help pointing out they seem like the lyrics for a new song.
Strings may indeed be a tormented soul and a pretty nice guy on the surface, but he’s completely self-absorbed. He usually looks for a quick ego boost and a moment’s bliss, rather than anything remotely substantial. Watching him try to work through his issues is like watching a perpetual train wreck; he careens from one mistake to the next and leaves a path of broken promises in his wake.
Strings has a lot to learn about responsibility, especially when it comes to walking away from commitments he has made and those who depend on him to keep them.
An Engaging Production
Direction by Neal Pepe, who also helmed the original Atlantic production, is excellent, as this three-hour work simply speeds by. Critical is how each of the cast portrays these characters with deadpan seriousness. The humor and pathos comes from their respective situations, not the characters themselves.
Driver fits the part of Strings like a glove, a man-child with a boyish charm and a Southern twang that can melt butter. He’s someone who’s had everything made easy for him for so long that he fails to realize that those supposedly bent on helping him are not always going to be at his beck and call. This is particularly true if he suddenly changes his life’s direction.
Strings must face some unpleasant truths about his childhood and his mother’s attitude toward him. Some of his past may not be quite how he remembers it. An unexpected visitor (Frank Wood) shows him just what is actually possible if he’s prepared to really reach out and ask for help.
Nobbs, another Atlantic veteran (as are Wilson and Clemens), is wonderfully earnest as Jimmy—Strings’s longtime friend, gofer, sounding board, and occasional third wheel. His ready-to-please, rose-colored glasses ways remain constant, but we can’t help but wonder what would happen if he were suddenly cast adrift.
Burns is fine as Nancy, whose sweet exterior conceals a no-nonsense attitude and iron determination. She seems like a breath of fresh air when we meet her, but, in fact, she’s worn out from her own responsibilities and refuses to end up as one of Strings’s castoffs. She proves to be a force to be reckoned with.
Duke, an easygoing family man, as genially portrayed by Wilson, has no interest in Strings’s world and its attractions. But his willingness to help Strings in his time of need may prove to be his undoing, because Strings’s half-hearted attitude and occasional temper flashes threaten to derail his attempt toward a new direction.
Clemens gives a heartfelt performance as Essie, offering Strings, like Nancy does, earnest words of wisdom, a shoulder to cry on, and an ear to bend. Clear-eyed, with no illusions, Essie respects herself far too much to allow others to take advantage of her—at least not too often.
Showing loud and clear that life is what you make of it, “Hold on to Me Darling” chronicles one man’s desperate search to find himself. Ultimately, sometimes you must go back to the beginning before you can start again.
