You’re likely to be charmed by Ryan J. Haddad and nearly everybody around him in “Good Time Charlie,” from the moment he introduces the family members he roped into “The Haddad Theater” starting at age five. In his family’s backyard in Shaker Heights, Ohio, they perform his version of “Cinderella,” with Ryan as a child simultaneously playing the prince, arguing in his position as auteur and artistic director with his aunt about her interpretation of the evil stepmother, and narrating the scene for the audience at the Public Theater, where “Good Time Charlie” opens tonight.

Haddad takes much the same childlike tripartite approach in the grown-up play that follows, which instead of “butchering a movie or a musical” more or less tells the story of  Ryan’s Uncle Charlie.

  Like Ryan, Charlie (portrayed by an ebullient Jonathan Raviv) is gay and a passionate lover of theater, having longed to be center stage. Unlike Ryan, Charlie became a dentist,  and had to struggle with parents who didn’t accept his homosexuality… At least, that’s how Ryan initially presents it. But his character Charlie disagrees, to his face: “They’re my parents, Ryan. Two of the people I love most in the world.”

“This is a play, with a narrative,” Ryan argues back, insisting on respect for his authorial authority.  “Not necessarily a plot,” he adds, “but certainly a narrative,”

The line gets a laugh. It’s also true.   “Good Time Charlie” is not meticulously plotted; it’s no “Sound of Music,” just like the Haddads were never a tightly polished troupe like the von Trapp family.  It’s more informal than that, more familiar, familial.  It’s like a visit. Ryan takes us on a tour through the decades with the family he loves, especially his gay, found family, although there is some overlap.

Haddad, who has made his mark in New York theater with his witty, graphically candid autobiographical plays (“Hi, Are You Single,” “Dark, Disabled Stories.”  and , Hold Me In The Water .)  has found a way both to keep the spotlight on himself and to share it with a wonderful cast of pros.  There is one memorably amusing scene where all the characters argue over who first introduced Ryan to the theater.

But there are some scenes with Ryan only peripherally involved, especially ones revolving around Charlie. Charlie argues with his parents about his career choice, about his sexuality (Nael Nacer and Artemis Pebdani also portray Ryan’s parents.) He ventures into a gay bar and meets  the man who became his long-time lover, Lou, portrayed by Tim Bagley, who played a similar role to similar winning effect in the HBO series, “Somebody Somewhere.” Lou introduces Charlie to his best friend,  Sheldon, a fellow film buff (the host of a long-running series at a local art house cinema, who becomes Charlie’s best friend too. They form a kind of triumvirate — and support group for Ryan. Sheldon is portrayed by Michael Christofer, who is magnificent in this role, which requires him to age dramatically.

  One wishes that Beth Malone as Ryan’s lesbian aunt Janice had a bigger role.  Janice wishes that too. It’s something of a credit to Haddad’s sense of fairness (or actually just to his sense of humor) that Charlie is not the only character who fights Ryan over the spotlight. At one point Janice confronts Ryan too: 

“Charlie. Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. I was your first formidable gay mentor. But I don’t see Good Time Janice on the marquee. Charlie didn’t come along until it was convenient, till you developed a personality. I was there from the beginning, and now he gets all the glory? Ryan, we already have plenty of gay male stories in the American Theatre. Where are the women? Why do men erase the women?”

“You are not wrong,” Ryan replies. “And I apologize for polluting the earth with yet another gay male play. But I am a gay man, so I will probably keep writing gay male plays.”

Good Time Charlie
Public Theater through October 25
Running time: 2 hours and 15 minutes, including an intermission
Tickets: $99
Written by Ryan J. Haddad
Directed by Danny Sharron
Choreographed by Jennifer Rias

Scenic design by Afsoon Pajoufar, costume design by Enver Chakartash, lighting design by Barbara Samuels, sound design and original music by Ryan Gamblin, hair and wig design by Robert Pickens, makeup design Studio Pickens, fight director Thomas Schall, vocal director Andrea Grody, voice and text coach Julie Congress, [roduction dramaturg Sarah Lunnie 

Cast: Sherz Aletaha (Understudy), Tim Bagley (Lou), Nicholas Barrón (Understudy), Michael Cristofer (Sheldon), Ryan J. Haddad (Ryan), Beth Malone (Janice), Nael Nacer (Charlie Sr./Bob), Artemis Pebdani (Joan/Judy), Jonathan Raviv (Charlie), and Doug Shapiro (Understudy).