I saw the show last night and generally enjoyed it. But find myself shaking my head so often lately when I leave the theater after a new play. Invariably, I'm thinking, that was 20 minutes too long. That was my impression Thursday night after I saw Dot, and same thing goes for Hold On. Are playwrights so in love with their words that they go on and on and on? In that case, I fault the director. Someone needs to shape up. Neil Pepe, this means you.
Anyway, Hold On is a funny, if overlong, play with a few flaws, in my humble opinion. One is the weakness of the main character. I didn't find him interesting or compelling at all. And I felt the character, who is supposed to be one of the top five crossover music stars in the world, was played without any charisma by Timothy Olyphant. Nice body, though, and we got to see it often.
Another problem is that String's mother is the elephant in the room. You might even consider her the main character. She has just died unexpectedly as the play opens, and this tragedy causes Strings to reevaluate his life and long for the simple life he left behind. Although the characters talk about her quite often, I never got a clear sense of who she was as a person.
I'm thinking that this is because Lonergan's language is not that descriptive. Even having us hear a couple of short anecdotes about String's mother would have sharpened her character for me. Yes, it's ironic that I'm actually recommending things be added to this beast!
The other flaw is the last scene. It was just too little, too late. Spoilers are in the spoiler tags.
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As played, Strings McCrane is just kind of boring, and we get to watch as he does one dumb thing after another. Plus, I couldn't figure him out. Is he a unrepentant Lothario? Or does he really fall for his "second cousin twice removed," who is the only person in the play who comes across as genuine and embodies the real virtues of the South? Then, after he makes love to her, he goes back to the hotel and reunites with the gold digger who talks a heap of mumbo jumbo and encourages a marriage proposal? That was the point the plot went off the rails for me. I was still hoping he would wise up, but no.
The other problem I had was with the last scene:
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So Strings grew up with an overbearing mother who drove his father away and prevented any contact. In the last scene, his father returns, having been summoned by Strings, who told his assistant to hire a private detective to track him down. Father and son have an uneasy reunion, but at the end they appear to be reconciling, and Strings has a breakthrough. It's not entirely believable, to me, that it would happen that fast.
Anyway, I bet you're thinking that this "review" is overlong!
I thought there were some marvelous performances. C.J. Wilson as Duke, String's half brother, was wonderful. He was the funniest person on stage and really embodied the downtrodden male, beset with all sorts of woes. Also, Adelaide Clemens as Essie, the cousin, made an impression. This is her Off Broadway debut. Most of her credits seem to be in film and TV, but I thought she was great on stage. And Jenn Lyon must have trained as a massage therapist, because the job she did on Strings was amazing!
As previous posters have said, the revolving sets were great and so amazing on a small stage. Great job, Atlantic! One of my favorite small theaters.
Updated On: 3/6/16 at 10:10 AM
