The 2023 Tony-nominated, extended run of James Ijames' Pulitzer-winning Fat Ham plays its final Broadway performance July 2 at the American Airlines Theatre. Previews began March 21 and opened April 12. Read reviews here.
Ijames reinvents Shakespeare's classic tragedy Hamlet moving the action to a Southern cookout. There, queer college kid Juicy has to grapple with identity questions, the ghost of his father, and a supernatural demand for vengeance. The choice laid before him? Whether to break or perpetuate cycles of trauma and violence.
Fat Ham played an extended and sold-out Off-Broadway debut via The Public Theater and National Black Theatre last year. Read reviews for the Off-Broadway run here.
READ: In Fat Ham, James Ijames Reinvents Hamlet Through a Lens of Blackness and Queerness
The production's entire original Off-Broadway cast reprised their roles for the Broadway bow, led by Marcel Spears as Juicy, 2023 Tony nominee Nikki Crawford as Tedra, Chris Herbie Holland as Tio, Billy Eugene Jones as Rev and Pap, Adrianna Mitchell as Opal, Calvin Leon Smith as Larry, and Benja Kay Thomas as Rabby.
READ: Ato Blankson-Wood and Marcel Spears Are a Pair of Hamlets for the (Modern) Ages
Crawford, Holland, Mitchell, Smith, and Spears all made their Broadway debuts with the production. Casting is by Kate Murray.
Continuing with the production is 2023 Tony-nominated director Saheem Ali in his Broadway debut. Other members of the Off-Broadway run's creative team who returned for the Main stem engagement are scenic designer Maruti Evans, 2023 Tony-nominated costume designer Dominique Fawn Hill, sound designer Mikaal Sulaiman, choreographer Darrell Grand Moultrie, hair and wig designer Earon Chew Nealey, and illusions designer Skylar Fox. They are joined by 2023 Tony-nominated lighting designer Bradley King. General management is by Baseline Theatrical.
In total, the production earned five Tony nominations.
READ: Liberated From Religious Trauma, Fat Ham’s Calvin Leon Smith Is Shining His Truth On Stage
The work made its world premiere in 2021 as a streaming production via Philadelphia's Wilma Theater, where Ijames serves as co-artistic director with Morgan Green, who directed the digital production.
In addition to its originating producers The Public Theater and National Black Theatre which continues as co-producer, Fat Ham is produced on Broadway by Cynthia Erivo, Rashad V. Chambers, No Guarantees, and Public Theater Productions, while Andy Jones and Dylan Pager serve as executive producers. Tony nominee Colman Domingo serves as a co-producer.
Check out the production below.
Nikki Crawford, Billy Eugene Jones, Benja Kay Thomas, Marcel Spears,
Adrianna Mitchell, and Calvin Leon Smith
Calvin Leon Smith, Nikki Crawford, Billy Eugene Jones, Benja Kay
Thomas, Adrianna Mitchell, and Marcel Spears
Marcel Spears and Adrianna Mitchell
Nikki Crawford, Billy Eugene Jones, Benja Kay Thomas, Adrianna Mitchell, Calvin Leon Smith, and Marcel Spears
Adrianna Mitchell and Benja Kay Thomas
Marcel Spears and Nikki Crawford in Fat Ham
Marcel Spears
Marcel Spears and Calvin Leon Smith in Fat Ham
Marcel Spears and Billy Eugene Jones
Adrianna Mitchell, Chris Herbie Holland, and Marcel Spears
