Enchantment is scarce and magical moments fleeting in Fairycakes, Douglas Carter Beane’s overstuffed yet undercooked Shakespeare-meets-Disney mish-mash at the Greenwich House Theater.
Oh, there are spirits, sprites, and fairies aplenty: sisters Peaseblossum (Dear Evan Hansen’s Kristolyn Lloyd, delightful), the winged one who persuades woodworker Geppetto (Mo Rocca) to bring Pinocchio (Sabatino Cruz) to life; Moth (Jackie Hoffman, at her deadpan best), who hangs around “in whateverland” mooning over a boy she calls “green tights”; Cobweb (Z Infante), self-described “fem’nist” fairy godmother to Cinderella (Kuhoo Verma); and Mustardseed (Ann Harada), a tooth fairy who’s “got superpowers, but no G.P.S.” Plus the fluttery quartet’s parents: high-handed fairy king and queen Oberon (Arnie Burton) and Titania (Julie Halston, in top form). As if that wasn’t enough Midsummer Night’s Dream madness, Beane (The Little Dog Laughed, As Bees in Honey Drown) also throws in the mischievous Puck (Chris Myers) to, well, puck everything up in an effort to out-cupid Cupid (Jason Tam). And just as too many cooks can spoil the broth, too many fairies can spoil a spell.
The plot, as it were, seems to hinge on pulling a Parent Trap on Oberon and Titania, whose marriage has hit the skids. There are a few quirky, endearing Beane-style twists: The lovelorn Moth makes a brief connection with a salty pirate named Dirk Dead-eye (comic chameleon Burton), who later throws her over in favor of Geppetto. The playwright has also shoehorned in a handful of catchy tunes courtesy of his Lysistrata Jones songwriter Lewis Flinn.
[Read Frank Scheck’s ★★☆☆☆ review here.]
But oh—the costumes! For the fairy quartet, designer Gregory Gale has created dreamy cotton candy–colored tulle and crinoline ’80s punk-princess confections that recall “Like a Virgin”–era Madonna. Add the asymmetrical floral headdresses and plique-à-jour–effect wings and the effect is positively magical.
Then the bubble bursts with lines like this: “Come daughters let us go home from the ball,/ Now let us return to our humble hall.” Oh, did we mention nearly all of Fairycakes is in verse? And: “I’m in love with a puppet, oh but then/ What does that say for my odd taste in men?” And this: “What do I know of your ways, you lassie/ Nothing I do I guess is classy.” Also: “Shiver me timbers, ahoy there matey./ Who is that chick, she’s hotter than Haiti?” And then: “Look at him running, now that is a man./ Look at him go, would you look at that can.” (Okay, actually that “look at that can” line is kind of funny.)
Strangely, the wackiness that ensues during the play’s single prose interlude makes more sense—and earns more laughs—than pretty much anything else in the show. “Oh this pirate, wooed me, convinced me to love him, then broke my heart,” bemoans Moth. “I tell you when they say piracy is not a victimless crime, they ain’t foolin’.”
But before you can say “if you believe clap your hands,” everyone’s back in rhyming fairyland—none of us the wiser, or much happier.
Fairycakes opened October 24, 2021, at the Greenwich House Theater and runs through November 21. Tickets and information: fairycakestheplay.com
