On the first night of previews for Broadway's Fat Ham, the cast and creative team took their bows—but the production made sure to also shout out all of those on the show who took also made their Broadway debuts that evening. Playing a strictly limited 14-week engagement at the American Airlines Theatre, the show will officially open April 12.
Playwright James Ijames reinvents Shakespeare's classic tragedy Hamlet in Fat Ham, which is set at a Southern cookout as queer college kid Juicy has to grapple with identity questions, the ghost of his father, and a supernatural demand for vengeance. His choice? Whether to break or perpetuate cycles of trauma and violence in this dramedy. Find out what the Ijames and the cast had to share about how the show celebrates queer, Black joy when they spoke to Playbill here.
Among those making their Broadway debuts are Nikki Crawford, Chris Herbie Holland, Adrianna Mitchell, Calvin Leon Smith, and Marcel Spears, who are joined by Billy Eugene Jones and Benja Kay Thomas. The play has moved uptown from Off-Broadway's The Public Theater where Fat Ham played an award-winning engagement. The entire Off-Broadway cast are reprising their roles for the Main Stem run with the new addition of understudies RJ Foster, Marquis D. Gibson, Alexandria Lewis, Matthew Elijah Webb, and Rema Webb.
Director Saheem Ali is also making his Main Stem debut alongside Ijames in his Broadway playwriting debut. Ali directed The Public Theater run and is once again joined by scenic designer Maruti Evans, 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. Rounding out the creative team are lighting designer Bradley King, fight director Lisa Kopitsky, and singing coach Deborah Lapidus. Casting is by Kate Murray.
READ: Marcel Spears, Star of Pulitzer-Winning Fat Ham, Talks Shakespeare and Southern Cookouts
Previews began March 21 for the Broadway bow which also announced its rush policy earlier this week.
Fat Ham is produced on Broadway by the recently announced 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.
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