Fans of Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan know that the spotlight onstage is "Tiny's special place," and Levithan (writing solo) shines a fabulous one on him here.
Tiny Cooper, Will Grayson's larger-than-life best friend, stars in his own birth-to-adolescence biography, fashioned as a musical. One need not know Green and Levithan's novel to enjoy this show, from Tiny's opening number, "I Was Born This Way" ("big-boned and happily gay./ I was born this way,/ right here in the U.S. of A.") to his coming out to himself ("Who am I trying to be/ when I'm denying I'm me?/ Why is the truth/ so stuck inside?") and eventually, to the world. One of the book's most moving moments occurs when Tiny comes out to Phil Wrayson (aka Will Grayson), but Phil already knows. Levithan fills the book with delectable morsels of Broadway insider jokes and music trivia. Tiny sees the world through the prism of the predominantly straight culture he was born into, adapting those definitions in order to make sense of his feelings and impulses, as in "Second Base" ("What's second base for a gay man?/ If you can't tell me,/ I'm hoping somebody can").
As in all good musicals, full-cast numbers, such as the brilliant "Parade of Ex-Boyfriends" that kicks off Act II, give way to solo acts both funny ("Drunk on Love") and heart-wrenching ("Something Else": "If you're tired of twisting,/ exhausted by existing,/ I understand"). This lightning-fast read is for Will Grayson devotees, musical theater aficionados and comedy lovers. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness