In the midst of the Covid lockdown, when experiencing live theater was nothing more than a memory of the past, Philadelphia's Wilma Theater filmed and streamed on-line a digital version of James Ijames' excellent new play "FAT HAM," a riff on "Hamlet" set an outdoor African American family wedding reception/barbecue in North Carolina. I watched the digital stream at the time, and belived that it is one of the best digital theater offerings I had seen during Covid times. The play's wit and themes translated into the on-line format, although at the time the ending felt to me a bit unearned. Nevertheless, I felt that this was Ijames' best play I had seen to date and I was thrilled when it was awarded the 2022 Pulitzer for Drama ostensibly based on the script and online production by the Wilma.
When the Public announced that a live production of "Fat Ham" would be part of its 2021-22 season, I was interested in seeing how the play differed in its on-stage iteration. Fortunately, the Public lined up a great director, cast and production crew to bring this play to its inaugural live staging. Having now seen the outstanding and hugely entertaining Public production of "Fat Ham," my estimation of Mr. Ijames' play has grown enormously, revealing to me that the considerable comedy in "Fat Ham" begs out for a live staging and audience to realize its full potential. Furthermore, only after seeing the play on stage was I able to see the how the play's ending is entirely earned and crucial to one of the play's central themes- dispensing with the endless cycles of trauma and celebrating the triumph of doing so. Indeed, Ijames' brilliantly flips the tragedy of Shakespeare's original work, and in doing so makes what I interpret as a commentary on contemporary theater's tendency to feature African American plays that focus on black trauma.
Seeing how a live staging was essential for me to fully experience the breadth of "Fat Ham" reminds me of how important it is preserve the medium of live theater, sadly in a time when so many legitimate theaters are facing existential threats to their existence. While digital stagings are better than nothing, like film and published texts, they are not full substitutes for the real thing.
On my recent trip to New York I also saw Lear DeBessonet's dreamily cast Encores! production of one of my all time favorite musicals, Sondheim's "Into The Woods" which is now playing in a limited run on Broadway. The two and a half hours watching this show can only be classified as musical theater nirvana that mined the musical of all of its considerable wit, musicality, humor and emotion. If you think you have already seen enough "Into The Woods" for a lifetime (something to which I would never subscribe), think again and see this outstanding production if you have the opportunity to do so.
I was also drawn in by Will Arbery's fine new play "Corsicana" at Playwrights Horizons, which centered on siblings, one of whom has Downs Syndrome, who are dealing with the recent loss of their mother. Arbery's writing is somewhat elliptical but rings deeply true, although I would venture that this play needs a skilled director and cast to properly negotiate the play's silences and shifts. Playwrights Horizons has graced Arbery's play with both in the hands of director Sam Gold and the fine cast he has assembled here.
