Pulitzer-Winning Fat Ham Sets 2023 Broadway Bow

James Ijames' Pulitzer-winning Fat Ham is coming to Broadway following an extended and sold-out Off-Broadway debut via The Public Theater and National Black Theatre earlier this year. The work will play a limited engagement at the American Airlines Theatre beginning March 21, 2023, with opening night set for April 12. Performances will continue through June 25. Read reviews for the Off-Broadway run here.

The production's entire original Off-Broadway cast is continuing with the production for the Broadway bow, including 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. Casting is by Kate Murray.

Also continuing with the work is director Saheem Ali, who will make his Broadway debut helming the upcoming run. Ali will be joined by much of his creative team from the Off-Broadway production, including 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. Newly joining the team are lighting designer Bradley King and production stage manager Kamra A. Jacobs. General management will be by Baseline Theatrical.

In a reinvention of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Fat Ham takes place at a Southern cookout. The comic tragedy follows Juicy, a queer college kid, as he grapples 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. 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. The work played a one-night-only reading on Broadway last month, also at the American Airlines, for veterans and active duty service members in honor of Veterans Day. This special evening featured much of the cast for the upcoming full Broadway run.

Fat Ham comes to Broadway from producers Rashad V. Chambers, No Guarantees, and Public Theater Productions, with Andy Jones and Dylan Pager serving as executive producers. Though the American Airlines is operated by Roundabout Theatre Company, the run is not a Roundabout production, but will be offered to its subscribers as part of its 2022-23 season.

Tickets will go on sale December 12 with a pre-sale available to American Express cardholders December 7. Tickets are currently available for The Public Theater partners and supporters, along with subscribers of National Black Theatre and Wilma Theater.

Visit FatHamBroadway.com.