Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story

In Will Grayson, Will Grayson, Tiny Cooper--friend to one Will, love interest of the other--directs a musical about his life. Now, that musical is its own book, written as theater dialogue with stage directions from the self-aware protagonist. Perhaps of most interest to Will Grayson fans, this story of coming out, love, and friendship also stands on its own.

As fans of Will Grayson, Will Grayson (rev. 5/10), Levithan's collaboration with John Green, will recall, Tiny Cooper -- friend to one Will and romantic interest of the other -- writes and directs a musical about his life. Now, that musical is its own book -- "a musical in novel form (Or, a novel in musical form)" -- starring Tiny as main character, with supporting players "Phil Wrayson" and others, thinly veiled, from the previous book. The text appears as theater dialogue, with extensive stage directions written by the highly self-aware protagonist ("The key thing here is that…Tiny has no idea what he's talking about…He hasn't thought about sex much. He's eight"). This is not meant to be a masterpiece of musical theater, though the jokes are genuinely funny and the lyrics obviously written by someone who owns more than a few original-cast recordings (here's one of the song titles: "Oh! What a Big Gay Baby!"). Rather, we're watching a young librettist figure himself out, sometimes preaching and sometimes pipe-dreaming (the stage directions demand Anne Hathaway for a minor role in the movie version). The previous novel's stars are truly supporting cast here; the gay, overweight best friend has become the gay, overweight, further-developed main character. Tiny's production is perhaps of most interest to Will Grayson fans, but it's also able to stand on its own as a story of coming out, looking (and looking and looking) for love, and valuing and trusting one's friends. shoshana flax