Hold Me Closer

Starred review from January 12, 2015
Tiny Cooper, the memorable best friend from Levithan and John Green’s Will Grayson, Will Grayson, gets his own star turn in this companion volume, which contains the script and lyrics of the autobiographical musical he wrote and staged in the original novel. With stage directions from Tiny (“Like myself, this musical is meant to be loud and spectacular”) and the lyrics to 25 ballads and showstoppers, the show opens (à la Matilda) with Tiny’s birth: “He should not be wearing a diaper. Instead, the person who emerges should be the large, stylish Tiny Cooper that you will see for the next two acts.” The musical charts the course of Tiny’s life as the “big-boned and happily gay” child of wonderful, football-loving parents and his quest for true love (“Mama and Papa didn’t know/ they were lighting the lamp/ the moment they sent me/ to Starstruck Drama Camp”). Though billed as a “musical novel,” there is no sheet music yet written for Tiny’s magnum opus. Levithan is hoping for a crowd-sourced soundtrack, encouraging amateur and professional composers to put music to his words. Broadway, are you listening? Ages 14–up.