Response to Reading Guide by Caitlin Hawkins
Question 1:
“Tiny frequently alludes to musicals, films, and performers--many of which figure prominently in gay culture. To what degree do these allusions marginalize readers who are not familiar with them?”
David Levithan’s Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story, is more than a coming out story or a coming of age of teenager in a theater setting. The book is, itself, Levithan and Cooper’s love letter to musical theater. The story is rife with allusions to classic musicals, plays, operas, and even features the ghost of Oscar Wilde, author of The Importance of Being Earnest. While to some it may seem limiting in allowing readers to “clue in” to what is going on in the story, Cooper is actually situating himself among a tradition that is rich and well known, validating his work as a playwright and allowing him to reach through the page to bring his vision to life.
Utilizing a similar tactic to discover himself as an artist that Jacqueline Woodson did in Brown Girl Dreaming, Cooper creates or reveals a mentorship with those who have come before him. Woodson used the poetry of Langston Hughes to both mimic and honor, while Tiny uses the canon of musical theater. This is specifically seen in his exchanges with the ghost of Oscar Wilde, his spectral mentor, who gives him “hard-won wisdom” about both his love life and his art (146). This advice even extends to the gentle prodding to write his own play. Tiny receives advice and life direction from the ghost, just as he has received a training of sorts from his knowledge of the canon of musical theater.
In addition to learning from the greats (Sondheim, Oscar Wilde, Barbra Streisand), Tiny is also using these cultural touchstones to create an intertextual and interdisciplinary work that enlists the reader in the creation of the musical. While he cannot play his songs for us, the readers, he can illicit memories and emotions in our minds as we read by hearkening back to something that we know. For example, I have never seen Damn Yankees!, but I do know the music to “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”, making the texting scene in Act II Scene 7 all the more haunting and disheartening (144). Likewise, Tiny’s discourse within the stage directions give him space to thoroughly enlist future actors and directors within his vision for the play. By alluding to other pieces of musical theater within the canon, Tiny creates an intimacy with his readers and future actors. It is almost as if we are a part of his club, even if we don’t get all the references.