Juicy is a queer, Southern college kid, already grappling with some serious questions of identity, when the ghost of his father shows up in their backyard, demanding that Juicy avenge his murder. But here’s the rub! Revenge doesn’t come easy to Juicy, a sensitive and self-aware young Black man in search of his own happiness and liberation. From an uproarious family cookout emerges a compelling examination of love and loss, pain and joy. The deliciously funny, Pulitzer Prize-winning play from James Ijames and director Saheem Ali reinvents Shakespeare’s masterpiece.
For a while there’s some satisfaction in experiencing the ways Ijames inventively reconceives Shakespearean plot points and characters. And, on the design front, it’s clever to replace the usual Danish fog with smoke from a BBQ pit on Maruti Evans’ set. Yet you start to get the sense that more effort was spent on meticulously setting up the pins than finally knocking them down. The ending is mush. Still, the cast’s energy is warm and enveloping throughout. Spears’ Juicy, with his sideways glances and Charlie Brown sincerity, is more lovable than any melancholy Hamlet you’ll ever see. Jones doesn’t come across evil enough to kill anybody, but he’s a font of mischievous energy.
Which is why Fat Ham feels so fresh and clever. Ijames could have easily transposed Hamlet beat by beat, or pulled a Baz Luhrmann and have his modern-day characters speak in Iambic pentameter (a couple of monologues notwithstanding). But Ijames' characters are as American as pulled pork and baby back ribs, which emphasizes the universality of Shakespeare's work. The credo of Fat Ham is that famous quote about being true to thine own self. That advice was given to Laertes, not Hamlet, who probably could've used it. Juicy, however, follows it to a tee. To take one of the most definitive and hallowed works in English literature and retell it as a comedy about a young, thicc, queer Black boy in the South is revolutionary in its own way, but like 'A Fifth of Beethoven,' there's a bit of a novelty to Fat Ham, which may say more about the culture in which we live than the play itself.
Digital Rush
Price: $39
Where: On the Today Tix app.
When: Released on a first-come, first-served basis every performance day at 9 AM.
Limit: Two per customer
Information: Subject to availability.
2022 | Off-Broadway |
Public Theater Off-Broadway Premiere Production Off-Broadway |
2023 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2023 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Play | James Ijames |
2023 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Sound Design of a Play | Mikaal Sulaiman |
2023 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Play | Fat Ham |
2023 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | John Gassner Award for New American Play | James Ijames |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Play | Dominique Fawn Hill |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Play | Saheem Ali |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Play | Bradley King |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play | Nikki Crawford |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Fat Ham |
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