The Public Theater’s latest offering in the New York City venue’s extremely busy 2026-2027 season is the semi-autobiographical comedy Good Time Charlie, a play written by Ryan J. Haddad. Haddad, a disabled gay Lebanese-American, weaves a memory play of familial love, concern and support based on his own family. Haddad is a character in the play but also directs and stage-manages the play at the same time, relating the stories of his family and friends over three-plus decades. Haddad also wrote the music.
While Ryan is the one relating the story, his Uncle Charlie [Jonathan Raviv] is the central character. Charlie’s interests had always been in the theater and especially musicals. However, when it came time for college, his concerned parents, Charlie Sr. and Joan [Nael Nacer and Artemis Pebdani], steer him into a more secure career path — dentistry. Sensing a kindred spirit in Ryan, Charlie pours his knowledge and love of the stage into the boy.
Fortunately for Ryan, his own parents, Bob and Judy [Nacer and Pebdani again], while also concerned, are more supportive of his dreams. Ryan gets support, both as gay man and theater artist, from his lesbian Aunt Janice [Beth Malone], Charlie’s longtime partner, Lou [Tim Bagley], and the gay-elder professor, Sheldon [Michael Cristofer].
The extremely talented cast, under Danny Sharron in his directorial debut, navigate the script with consummate skill, creating rounded, vibrant portrayals. Haddad himself handles the transitions between acting in his personal memory play and directing his family members to play themselves as he remembers them. Nacer and Pebdani handle the difficult task of creating two sets of parents with strikingly different attitudes toward their flamboyant sons.
Cristofer, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of The Shadow Box, turns in a feisty portrait of a man who, after mentoring Charlie and Ryan, is battling his own physical decline after a long and active life. Raviv and Bagley present an unlikely multi-generational romance with grace and understated passion. Bagley, a mainstay of TV’s Somebody, Somewhere, provides calming understanding of Charlie’s eccentricities, even as Raviv’s Charlie keeps trying to present himself as a showstopper in Ryan’s story. Raviv’s first entrance, down a sparkly staircase to the tune of “It’s Today” from Mame, sets the tone for his Charley that carries through the rest of the show.
Afsoon Pajoufar’s set design, an extravagant garden complete with a Japanese torii, makes an unusual but effective backdrop to Ryan and Charlie’s stories, as lit by Barbara Samuels. Enver Chakartash’s costumes run the gamut from everyday wear to Charlie’s extravagant fantasy attire, helping delineate character and mood.
Haddad shows his deep love for his families, both of birth and of choice, and has the gift of portraying them openly on stage. His talents, both as actor and playwright, shine through this play and make you want to see what he will come up with next. I highly recommend you see his latest work, Good Time Charlie, before its limited engagement ends — it may rekindle memories of your own families and circles of friends and their influences on your life.
Good Time Charlie is presented in Martinson Hall at The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St., through Oct. 25. For more information, or to purchase tickets, go to publictheater.org.
