A hunky country star, weary of fame and longing for the simple life, chucks it all to open a farm store in his hometown; there, romance, rippling pecs, and existential wrangling ensue. Though this could be the landing-page synopsis of the latest Hallmark Channel offering (a 2015 film called A Country Wedding comes pretty close), it is actually the plot of Hold On to Me Darling, a 2016 play by Kenneth Lonergan. A new revival of it is now playing off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, starring Adam Driver as Strings McCrane, a troubled crooner. (Neil Pepe directs.) Despite the schmaltzy setup, it is a thoughtful rumination on the hazards of celebrity with rich performances—including a wonderful one from Driver.
We first meet McCrane in a Kansas City hotel suite, where he is grappling with the recent death of his mother, a formidable woman he could never quite please. Enter Nancy, a local masseuse he engages for some stress relief, who quickly sees McCrane as her ticket out—and who could blame her? (For interested parties, a muscly Driver is in boxer briefs within 10 minutes of curtain.)