Most of the nutty plot involves couples’ splitting and getting back together, sometimes in new, queerer configurations. First, there’s a sourness at the heart of Beane’s confection. There are a few reasons for the show’s weird aridity. But even though everyone is whacking gamely away at Beane’s conceit, nothing quite hammers his whimsy into charm. It’s a sharp farcical setup, and Beane - also directing - has assembled various Off Broadway treasures to gin up the comedy. It doesn’t help that their fairy-boomer parents Titania (Julie Halston) and Oberon (Arnie Burton) keep having marital issues, and that in the chaos, the fairies confuse their assignments. These precariat pixies multitask: Moth (Jackie Hoffman) from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream also oversees Neverland her sister Mustardseed (Ann Harada) is on lost-tooth duty and knows Sleeping Beauty. In Beane’s world, every fairy - including the Bad one, the Blue one, and Tinkerbell - are actually members of one overburdened family. There’s no time off, no guarantee of more magic in the future, and your securely employed mom and dad don’t take your work seriously. From Fairycakes, at the Greenwich House Theater.Īccording to Douglas Carter Beane’s verse comedy Fairycakes, magic functions just like the gig economy.
