Put those lightsabers down and pick up a Playbill because Adam Driver is returning to the stage. The Tony and Academy-Award nominated actor will be starring in a new Off-Broadway revival of Kenneth Lonergan’s “Hold on to Me Darling” at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in Manhattan’s West Village this Fall for a limited 13-week engagement starting on September 24 and running until December 22.
The official synopsis for “Hold on to Me Darling” reads, “On learning of his mother’s death, country music icon Strings McCrane (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’ success and mind-bending effects of his fame prove all but impossible to outrun.”
Though the show sounds like it follows similar chords to “Tender Mercies” or “Crazy Heart,” in reality, the play feels more like “Dickie Robert: Former Child Star” or “Young Adult.” As is to be expected with Lonergan’s material, “Hold on to Me Darling” is a character dissection, this time focused on the concept of celebrity and with it the dilution of authenticity. Despite this being a revival, the play only first debuted in 2016 through the Atlantic Theater Company in a highly-regarded production centered around “Justified” star Timothy Olyphant.
Like that production, the upcoming Driver-led one will also be directed by Neil Pepe, who has been the artistic director of ATC since 1992 and was nominated for a Tony in 2022 for his direction of David Mamet’s “American Buffalo” starring Sam Rockwell, Laurence Fishbourne, and Darren Criss.
Driver made his Off-Broadway debut in 2009 in productions at Playwrights Horizon and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, followed by his Broadway debut in 2010 in a revival of George Bernard Shaw’s “Mrs. Warren’s Profession.” His work in 2019’s revival of Lanford Wilson’s play “Burn This,” co-starring Keri Russell, earned him a Tony nomination for Best Actor in a Play.
Whether it’s a result of production slow-downs throughout the film and television sectors of the entertainment industry or the theater is just proving more attractive to talent at this current moment, many celebrities are headed to the stage this fall. Mia Farrow and Patti Lupone will co-star in a new comedy from Jen Silverman called “The Roommate,” which is set to open September 12. In his Broadway debut, recent Marvel-returnee Robert Downey Jr. will lead Pulitzer-Prize winner Ayad Akhtar’s new play “McNeal,” set to start previews at Lincoln Center Theater on September 5. Featured in a new production of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” directed by Kenny Leon, recent Tony nominee Jim Parsons and Katie Holmes, who returns to Broadway for the first time in over a decade. “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” co-stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are also set to lead an upcoming production of “Waiting for Godot.”
Lonergan, who is also known for writing and directing films such as “Margaret” and “Manchester by the Sea,” has famously never adapted his theatrical work for the screen. So if you want to catch “Hold on to Me Darling,” best get your tickets now.
