Andrew Keenan-Bolger Steps Back Into The Limelight

Few people fit the description of “a man of many talents” as well as Andrew Keenan-Bolger. The 40-year-old gay actor has been seen in dozens of shows and films, including the Broadway productions of Beauty and the Beast, Newsies, Tuck Everlasting, and Mary Poppins. 

In addition, Keenan-Bolger also co-created and performed in the popular web series Submissions Only with his friend Kate Weatherhead, with whom he wrote three books in the Jack and Louisa series. 

Now, he’s back on the bookstore shelves with Limelight (Penguin Workshop), a coming-of-age story set in 1996 about Danny Vittorio, an unhappy, naïve, closeted Staten Island teenager who ends up getting into Manhattan’s prestigious LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, finding a new group of friends—and an eventual male lover, Christian—and even becoming briefly exposed to the legendary New York nightclub that gives the book its title.

Connecticut Voice spoke to Keenan-Bolger, whose own story was featured in these pages in our Winter 2023 issue, about the book’s many inspirations, his writing process, and his continuing devotion to theatre.

CV: Why did you choose to make Limelight a Young Adult novel?

A K-B; I love the young audience genre because you’re able to tell coming-of-age stories, which I think are so important and inspirational. But now there are very sophisticated themes you can discuss in them that were not present back when I was reading YA novels! 

CV: Will you continue writing in that genre?

A K-B: I don’t know. I am currently writing a book for adults with my husband Scott Bixby. But I’m going to keep a lid on what it’s about other than to say it is based on real people—we have been doing lots of interviews—but it is definitely fiction! 

CV: Back to Limelight. Why did you set this book in 1996?

A K-B: I wanted to share the world of 1996 for those people who weren’t around then. And for the people who were there, I hope they see the book as a love letter to those times. I moved to New York from Detroit in 1996 when I was 10, and it is the most vivid period in my memory. In fact, when I started writing the book in 2020, all I had was the time. All the subject matter came later.

CV: How did you decide on the subject matter, besides the “coming out” of your lead character?

A K-B: Once I had some ideas, I did a blast on Facebook to interview people who were students at LaGuardia High School or had been on Broadway in Rent, which opened in 1996, or had been part of that club kid scene. The full story came out of those interviews. I would talk to one person, and they would recommend another person, and the book spiraled from there. Actually, the club scene was originally what I was most curious about. I talked to Michael Musto about it a lot, and he was so generous in sharing stories. But [that scene] ended up not becoming as huge a part of the book as I expected.

CV: Why the fascination with club kids?

A K-B: I think they were similar in how influencers and TikTok gods function now. They share how queer young people think and are our new leaders in taste and art. 

CV: Why did you make Danny come from Staten Island? Have you ever been to Staten Island?

A K-B: Yes! My ex-boyfriend, Brian, was from Staten Island, and he also attended LaGuardia. Also, my good friend Tommy Bracco (a noted Broadway dancer) had a similar story. Having Danny come from there and having never come into Manhattan felt like a good outsider perspective; someone who was always looking in and finally entering a place they always wanted to belong. 

CV: You said you started working on the book in January 2020. Why is it just being published?

A K-B: I took a while to write, and then I finally sold it in 2023. And then I did edits throughout 2024. I know it sounds like a long time for a lot of people, but it’s not dissimilar to developing a Broadway show. I am used to playing “the long game.”

CV: You came from a very accomplished family. Did you let any of them read the book before it got published?

My sister Celia (the Tony Award-winning actress) was the second person to read the book. I was so nervous! Thankfully, she immediately texted me, “I am 20 pages in and laughing.” I am grateful she’s been such a cheerleader throughout  the process.

CV: Do you see being this “multi-hyphenate” for the foreseeable future: actor, author, director, playwright?

A K-B: I have never been the type of person who wants to get comfortable in any one field I work in. Still, theatre is my first love; it’s what I’m trained to do. But now, I only get the itch to be on stage about once a year. It has to be right project. I don’t do revivals. I am only really interested in doing something no one has done before. And while I know it’s hard for producers to take a risk on something new, [revivals] often become the most commercial. Still, I am so glad there are people whose whole career is to fund theater!.  

–Brian Scott Lipton