Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Good Morning, World

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Thanks to this site here for a bunch of pictures from Kenneth Lonergan's play Hold On To Me Darling, which stars Timothy Olyphant as a big-time Country singer having a nervous breakdown after the death of his mother. There are several more at that link, and I'd posted a shot similar (but different) to the one above previously here. And if you missed my immediate "just walked out of the show" reaction on Twitter, click here. I likened the sight of Tim in his drawers to nirvana itself, and I stand by that equivocation.

Everyone in the cast of Hold On to Me Darling is very good though, and the play's worth seeing for reasons other than ogling. I wouldn't say it's the strongest material that Lonergan's ever written - it remains difficult to feel much sympathy or find much empathy with its leading character, and we remain at a distance for much of the show. Lonergan papers over that with some very funny observations, but it all feels a little bit broader than I anticipated from a man's whose films have felt so incisive and human and true. But again, the actors are good, very good when given the chance - the two women, Adelaide Clemens and Jenn Lyon, especially. (When they finally share a scene it's the sort of stuff you don't blink during.) And the final scene, which I don't want to spoil, is very moving, thanks to an incredible and unexpected introduction. 


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't want to be a dick about this but nirvana was actually seeing Timothy in an off-Broadway play--The Monogamist. He had two full frontal scenes. Unforgettable.

BC said...

I love your pants and all, but I may never forgive you for being there and seeing that. I suffer.