Philly’s ‘Fat Ham’ goes home empty-handed at the 2023 Tony Awards but still made history

It was a bittersweet night for Fat Ham. Philadelphia playwright James Ijames’ Black queer reworking of Hamlet premiered at the Wilma Theater and quickly became a critical darling. It arrived to the 2023 Tony Awards with five nominations — and a Pulitzer in hand. Fat Ham lost in all five categories, including best play and best direction of a play.

Still, it was a glamorous night for Fat Ham, the Wilma, and Philly’s theater scene overall. Ijames’ play catapulted the city’s regional theater community to a national stage, a rare spotlight. The Wilma was the first independent Philly theater to earn Tony recognition for a new, original play; the theater is also a coproducer of the Broadway run.

Fat Ham was an underdog in the Tony competition — not surprising for Philly — especially in the major categories, where Broadway legend Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt, which follows the tragic journey of a wealthy Jewish family in Vienna before, during, and after the Holocaust, was favored to win.

Ahead of the awards ceremony, there was a lot of buzz for the possibility of a Fat Ham upset for best play, but Tony voters opted for Stoppard over Ijames.

Fat Ham came in with five nominations: Best play, best direction of a play, best featured actress in a play, best lighting design for a play, and best costume design for a play.

In lighting design, Bradley King lost to Life of Pi’s Tim Lutkin. In costume design, Dominique Fawn Hill lost to Leopoldstadt’s Brigitte Reiffenstuel.

Nikki Crawford, who played the protagonist Juicy’s mother, Tedra, on Broadway, lost the acting Tony to Miriam Silverman of Lorraine Hansberry’s The Sign in Sidney Brunstein’s Window.

Fat Ham director Saheem Ali lost the Tony for best direction of a play to Leopoldstadt’s Patrick Marber.

Despite the losses, Fat Ham will be staged across the country next season, including in Philadelphia — finally! The premiere was a filmed production during the pandemic, so this will be the first time Philly audiences can see the show at a local theater. It will run at the Wilma Nov. 24 through Dec. 17.

Another Tony nominee we kept our eyes on was Margate native Micaela Diamond, who costars in Parade with Ben Platt. Diamond was nominated for leading actress in a musical but lost to Victoria Clark of Kimberly Akimbo.

Diamond and Platt performed the musical’s “This Is Not Over Yet” on stage. Though Diamond didn’t snag the actress award, Parade won both best revival and best direction of a musical.