Take a seat at the rehearsal table and dine on these new photos of James Ijames' Pulitzer-winning Fat Ham preparing for its Broadway bow. Performances are set to begin March 21 at the American Airlines Theatre, where it will open its 14-week engagement April 12. The Public and National Black Theatre co-production transfers to the Main Stem after an award-winning engagement at Off-Broadway's Public Theater.
Reprising their roles from the Off-Broadway run, as previously announced, are 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, Marcel Spears as Juicy, and Benja Kay Thomas as Rabby; Crawford, Holland, Mitchell, Smith, and Spears all will make their Broadway debuts with the production. Joining the Broadway cast as understudies are RJ Foster, Marquis D. Gibson, Alexandria Lewis, Matthew Elijah Webb, and Rema Webb.
Go inside the rehearsal room for the Broadway run below.
James Ijames
James Ijames
Billy Eugene Jones, Benja Kay Thomas, Marcel Spears, Calvin Leon
Smith, and Nikki Crawford
Saheem Ali and Cast
Marcel Spears
Marcel Spears and Adrianna Mitchell
Set at a Southern cookout, Fat Ham follows Juicy, a queer college kid, in Ijames' reinvention of the Shakespeare classic Hamlet. Juicy has to grapple with identity questions, the ghost of his father, a supernatural demand for vengeance, and the choice of breaking or continuing cycles of trauma and violence in this tragicomedy.
READ: Marcel Spears, Star of Pulitzer-Winning Fat Ham, Talks Shakespeare and Southern Cookouts
Director Saheem Ali returns to direct the play in his Broadway debut, alongside returning members of the Off-Broadway creative team: 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. Previously announced to join the team are lighting designer Bradley King and production stage manager Kamra A. Jacobs. General management will be by Baseline Theatrical. Casting is by Kate Murray.
Newly announced creative team members include fight director Lisa Kopitsky and singing coach Deborah Lapidus, along with associate director Sideeq Heard, associate choreographer Abdur Jackson, associate scenic designer Jessica Kaplan, assistant costume designer DeShon Elem, associate lighting designer Aja M. Jackson, associate sound designer DJ Potts, and associate illusions designer Christian Cagigal.
See the production's cast and creatives meet the press.
Saheem Ali
Nikki Crawford
Marcel Spears
James Ijames
Adrianna Mitchell, Benja Kay Thomas, Chris Herbie Holland, Marcel Spears, Nikki Crawford, Billy Eugene Jones, and Calvin Leon Smith
Marquis D. Gibson, Rema Webb, RJ Foster, Alexandria Lewis, and Matthew Elijah Webb
Alexandria Lewis, Adrianna Mitchell, Benja Kay Thomas, Chris Herbie Holland, Matthew Elijan Webb, Marcel Spears, Nikki Crawford, Calvin Leon Smith, Rema Webb, RJ Foster, Saheem Ali, Billy Eugene Jones, Matthew Elijah Webb, James Ijames, and Marquis D. Gibson
Chris Herbie Holland
Calvin Leon Smith
Billy Eugene Jones
Benja Kay Thomas
Adrianna Mitchell
The work made its world premiere in 2021 as a streaming production via Philadelphia's Wilma Theater; it transfers to Broadway after an extended and sold-out Off-Broadway debut last year at The Public Theater. Read reviews for the Off-Broadway run here.
The production marks National Black Theatre’s first production on Broadway. Fat Ham is produced by No Guarantees, Public Theater Productions and Rashad V. Chambers. Andy Jones and Dylan Pager will serve as executive producers.
Visit FatHamBroadway.com.
