Terry Morgan – ArtsBeatLA
According to the great sages of the internet, Hamlet is the most produced play in world history, and whether or not that claim is true, the indecisive Dane is certainly ubiquitous. And if it isn’t an actual production of the play, there are innumerable films that borrow the plot to serve their own purposes, from The Lion King to Strange Brew. Into this arena strides James Ijames’ Fat Ham, which loosely adapts Shakespeare’s work and changes the setting to a modern-day African American barbecue. The current production at the Geffen Playhouse features most of the original Broadway cast and is very entertaining. I enjoyed it and recommend the experience, but as to the play being judged on its own merits, I was a bit disappointed. Read more…
Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA
Perhaps calling Fat Ham original in its source might technically be a stretch, but how Ijames has taken one of the world’s most time-honored 400-year-old classics and fashioned it into a morality play that could not be more appropriate for our times is an artistic masterstroke of pure genius. Read more…