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Video: Stars Walk the Opening Night Red Carpet for FAT HAM
May 17, 2024
The Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy Fat Ham by James Ijames, directed by Saheem Ali, opened on Broadway just last week at the American Airlines Theatre and BroadwayWorld is taking you inside the big night in this video!
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Hi, Broadway World. It's me, Katie Lynch, here at the deliciously funny Pulitzer Prize-winning
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opening night of Fat Ham on Broadway at the American Airlines Theater. We are beyond excited
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to chat with all of our favorite stars and celebs as they hit the purple carpet
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How are you feeling about tonight? I feel so good. I feel full
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That's a perfect description for this. I know. Like I've eaten the best meal of my life and I'm just like waiting for it to digest
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That's amazing. How happy are you to be here tonight? Thrilled. Thrilled. We're excited for a couple reasons. One is neither of us got the chance
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to see it when it was down to the public, so we're really, really excited that it worked out schedule-wise. We could come, be here for the opening night to support and also
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because more representation on Broadway. It's very important. How excited are you to be here tonight
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I am so excited. I think it's incredibly amazing that the show is on Broadway, that we have
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another adaptation of Hamlet that we can love and we can find our way into that is warm
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and mysterious and also provides you the thrill of what you go to Hamlet for. You want to
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see this redemption occur and then you want to also bust out and have karaoke and make
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jokes and eat barbecue food. I mean, yeah. I mean I wish they served barbecue during
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the production. Wait, did you just have a brainstorm idea? Did I make that happen? Intermission, some nice ribs. Mmm
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Why is it so important this is on Broadway right now? Because it proves that stories like this can make it. You know, like we did this play and
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we're doing it because we loved it. It was at the public. It was going to be off-Broadway downtown. I was going to be happy with that. I've done many plays that I'm happy with having
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that life, but for this to be uplifted, for this to be propelled into this stage with
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the cast still, it's all extraordinary. So, I'm just thrilled. When I think about Fat Ham and I think about what it's able to do, I think what is important
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is a couple of narratives that get to be debunked. What does it mean to actually support black
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culture from a cultural standpoint, authentic standpoint on Broadway? That's one. Two, I
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think what's really important about Fat Ham is that what does it mean to allow Broadway
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to be an ignition or a gateway to allow multiple people to have their first
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In this show, you're seeing tons of people having their Broadway debut. National Black
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Theater being one of them, Rashad being one of them, Saheem being one of them, James being
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one of them. A myriad of the cast, a myriad of the designers. And Broadway is doing nothing
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It's launching a million stars, right? So, this show is helping to launch a million stars
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to have a very fertile and full career. So, when I think about Fat Ham, you're watching
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a stellar piece that's going to bring lots of joy to your life, but you're also witnessing
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and investing in the future of our industry, the future of what we can all become
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Well, you know, a cookout or a barbecue as you know it is a story of a particular black
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experience and people who are black, you experience going to cookouts growing up and this is
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how we fellowship in community. And I host a cookout every year called the Celebration
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of Black Trans Women Cookout in Brooklyn, New York. And it's just very important and
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it's very important for our liberation. And I think that when we have conversations around
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diversity, inclusion, and representation, like not only just like seeing us as important
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but experiencing the things that we're experiencing and normalizing them as normal and bringing
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people into what we experience is very important. How are you feeling? Are you so excited for tonight
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I'm so stinking excited for the barbecue. Are you? Yes, of course
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I hope there's some fat ham. Okay, you are ridiculous. But I need to know, when you think of a cookout, what do you associate
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with a cookout? Okay, um, potato salad. It sounds easy, but you can read a person from their potato salad
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If they're bitter, if they're too sweet, if they're a little sour
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If they're making it with mustard. Do we want that or no? No. And Miracle Whip
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Yes. What is the one thing you expect when you attend a cookout
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Oh, a good time. Great music, dancing, laughter, all of that. And spicy food. I love spicy food
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I think, you know, obviously family. My father, rest his soul, was the one who did like all
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the cooking and had a special barbecue sauce that nobody knew the ingredients to. So whenever
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I sort of smell a barbecue, I think of my dad. My dad. My dad actually catered barbecue for like 15 years of my life. Fast Freddy's
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Barbecue. He has since retired the business, but his barbecue is the best. I can't not
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have it. So are you good at making barbecue? I can be. He was always the grill master and I watched him, so I understand how it works
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but I've not quite done it myself. Maybe I should try it
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Oh, you know what? I want some greens, I want some yams, and I need some chicken. Some turkey
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too, a little tryptophan ain't a bad thing. Great communion. And that means like exchange of ideas and laughing and loving. I think
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when you sit down at a table, particularly at a black family, when you sit down at a
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table, that's the time to share, to release, to learn more about each other. And so I expect
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that at a cookout. Family, fun, games, lots and lots and lots of food, smoke, trouble, mischief, all of
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those things. I love it
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