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.
Other than a few cast changes, most notably Driver in the role first played by Timothy Olyphant, the show is pretty much what it was when it debuted at the Atlantic Theater Company in 2016. The physical production looks as if it had been preserved since then in mothballs, with the same cramped, slowly revolving set by Walt Spangler. The few tweaks to the script are almost invisible. Neither Lonergan nor the director, Neil Pepe, seems to have felt the need for refinement.
| 2016 | Off-Broadway |
World Premiere Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
| 2024 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Revival Off-Broadway |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play | Frank Wood |
| 2025 | Drama League Awards | DISTINGUISHED PERFORMANCE | Adam Driver |
| 2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Play | Frank Wood |
| 2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Play | Adam Driver |
Videos