Author Interview: Limelight by Andrew Keenan-Bolger
In Limelight, Andrew Keenan-Bolger captures the thrill and pressure of growing up in the New York theater world, where wanting something badly can make you feel both alive and painfully exposed. Set in 1996, the novel follows Danny as he tries to find his footing (onstage and off) while navigating ambition, identity, and the people who help him feel less alone. Andrew shared about how his own experiences shaped Danny’s journey, why that specific moment in NYC mattered, and how friendship and found family become lifelines when belonging feels just out of reach. Check it out below and pick up Limelight, out 2/24!
Limelight
by Andrew Keenan-BolgerPublished by: Penguin Workshop
on February 24, 2026
Genres: Historical Fiction, LGBTQIA+, Young Adult
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Fame meets Rent in this powerful YA debut about a boy who must reconcile with his identity and insecurity as he steps into the spotlight, from Broadway star Andrew Keenan-Bolger.
The only thing standing between Danny and his dreams is…everything.
For fifteen years, Danny Victorio has kept his head down, kept his mouth shut, and kept everyone out. But an audition for Manhattan’s most prestigious arts school offers him a chance to escape Staten Island—and his crumbling family—for good.
If he doesn’t screw everything up.
At LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts, Danny is thrust into a world of fierce talent and even fiercer ambition. As he navigates overwhelming expectations, the ghosts of his past, and, for the first time, real friendship, Danny can’t shake the Where do I belong…if I belong at all?
Set against the gritty, vibrant backdrop of 1996 New York City—where peep-show palaces were giving way to Disney stores, the “Club Kids” ruled nightlife, and a musical called Rent was driving teens to sleep on the seediest sidewalks of Times Square in hopes of a ticket—Limelight is a story about finding your voice, finding your family, and figuring out who, and where, you’re really meant to be.
Interview with Andrew Keenan-Bolger
How did your own experiences in the New York theater world shape Danny’s journey, especially his struggle to feel like he belongs?
As an actor, I know what it feels like to walk into a room where everyone seems miles ahead of you. Stronger voices, sharper confidence, better hair, more expensive clothes, and a fluency in all of these unspoken rules. I came into the New York theater world as a kid and have been lucky enough to work on Broadway for a lot of my life, but it has always felt like I’m one mistake away from being exposed. Danny carries that same anxiety. He’s talented, but he walks into these spaces feeling behind before he even opens his mouth. Also, he comes from a broken home, and he’s still sorting through identity questions he doesn’t have language for yet, so attention feels dangerous.
Theater can be a dream and a pressure cooker. You’re surrounded by so many people who want it badly, and that can turn everything into a comparison game. Danny’s struggle to belong isn’t just about whether he’s good enough. It’s about whether he’s allowed to take up space as himself. For him, the stage becomes a place to practice courage before he can live it.
Why did you choose 1996 as the setting, and what parts of NYC’s cultural history felt essential to the story?
I chose 1996 because it sits at a hinge point in the decade. New York is still gritty and electric, but you can feel it starting to shift. That sense of transition felt ripe for a comingof-age story, because adolescence is its own hinge. So much is changing at once, and you don’t get to control the timing.
1996 is also the year when I arrived in New York to perform in my first Broadway show, and those details are still so vivid to me. The lights, the chaos, the sleaze, the feeling of being completely anonymous in a crowd of people. Also, culturally, that moment was such a collision. Theater kids were camping out on the seediest streets of Times Square to get tickets to Rent. Club Kids ruled the nightlife, even as Rudy Giuliani’s “quality-of-life” crackdown tried to shut down their spaces and squeeze them out. The AIDS crisis was shifting in complicated ways, changing the texture of queer life with grief still very close to the surface. That mix of urgency, desire, and loss felt like felt like a world I was excited to write into.
Danny’s friendships and found family become as important as his talent. What guided your decisions when building those relationships, and how did you want them to influence his growth?
I had a really fun time writing Danny’s friend group. I wanted each relationship to reveal a different side of him. Some of them challenge him, some of them steady him, some of them make him laugh when he’s spiraling. All of them pull him out of his shell and force him to see himself more clearly. Also, if you’ve ever met theater kids, you’ll know that closeness and intimacy happens fast. You bond quickly, you clash, you repair, and suddenly you’re a family before you have the words for it.
I also wanted to build those relationships around something I truly believe, especially for queer kids: your people can save you. A friend can give you language for a feeling you’ve been swallowing or make the world feel manageable for a minute. Danny has learned to be guarded, so letting people in feels risky. Every connection asks him to be a little more honest. His found family gives him a place to land, and that shifts what he believes he’s allowed to want from love, from art, and from himself.
About Andrew Keenan-Bolger
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