They say there is no blood on the pulled pork in James IJames’s “Fat Ham,” but we're not so sure. We get Margo Hall directing, a terrific ensemble of actors, a danceable music score and a story that has plenty of meat to go with all that grease. The story jumps in a direction that was somewhat unexpected, given it’s connection with Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, the old white guy who published it in 1603. But we see where the story is going for the entire one hour and forty minutes, so there are no surprises here.
It’s difficult to say who the stars are - each actor gives us something to love. Jordan Covington starts us off as Tio (above, with chin in hand), best friend and cousin of Juicy, played by Devin A. Cunningham. Juicy is fat and gay, Tio is slim and horny. Tio is happy, Juicy is morose.
Ron Chapman is one scary dude, both as the frightening ghost of the slain Pap and Pap’s evil brother Rev. We especially love Courtney Gabrielle Williams as Opal, the only character who seems at peace with herself.
Jenn Stephens, who looks great in turquoise, Phaedra Tillery-Boughton, who really knows how to pray, and Samuel Ademola, the one character whose confession seems forced, round out the cast.
It truly is a shame that Rev, the mean pitmaster, was such a hard head — “He really did know his way around a pig.”
RATINGS ★★★★
The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division has but one reviewer in charge of gender-bending Elizabethan dramas about barbecue. We are granting “Fat Ham” Four Stars. The show is a lot of fun and clearly an audience favorite. Shoutout for the prayer sequence.
And here’s the rub: It’s on the pork. Fat Ham feels like a hit.
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“Fat Ham”
San Francisco Playhouse
450 Post St. (Second floor of Kensington Park Hotel)
Through 4-19-25
$35-$135
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