Fatty Fatty No Friends
In the opening moments of Fatty Fatty No Friends, we hear a band that evokes Tim Burtonâs The Nightmare Before Christmas. The music (by Christian De GrĂ©) has a creepy-carnival vibe, and the imagery is pure Halloween: stilt-walking skeletons and an army of stylish teens with black rings around their eyes. Obese Tommy (Jason Sofge) waddles straight into this horror show, assailed by taunting, abusive classmates and menaced by skeletons. Our chubby hero awakes, goes to school and is befriended for the first time in his lifeâuntil the popular mean girl (Mia Moretti Thomas) intervenes. Alone in the bathroom, Tommy realizes that his bullies arenât nasty on the inside but actuallyâŠdelicious. So he decides to take gruesome action. (Flesh hangs off charactersâ bodies in the form of red sashes.) The inventive set is drawn on reversible sheets held up by performers, and the ensemble is perfectly despicable. But the real discovery is Sofge, whose vulnerability makes Tommyâs journey authentic rather than just endearing. (He shines in an amusing tune about sweatpants: âThey donât tear, they donât split / They remind me that thereâs a place I fit.â) De GrĂ©, lyricist Joseph Reese Anderson and book writer Serrana Gay have created a surprisingly touching piece that, whether it makes you cackle or sniffle, deserves a future life. With childhood obesity on the rise, this serotonin-boosting musical should be performed in schools throughout the land.