6 Reasons Joe Turner’s Come and Gone Is Worth Finding on Broadway

In Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, people are trying to get themselves back. Debbie Allen’s production at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre never loses sight of that. Allen saw the Broadway premiere of the play on this stage in 1988. She returns now with Taraji P. Henson, Cedric the Entertainer, Joshua Boone and Ruben Santiago-Hudson. August Wilson set the play in 1911. It does not feel like the past.

1. Taraji P. Henson and Cedric the Entertainer make the house feel lived in.
Henson plays Bertha Holly in her Broadway debut and Cedric the Entertainer plays Seth. As Bertha, Henson cooks, feeds and steadies the space. As Seth, Cedric measures each boarder carefully, holds to his rules and his money, then softens enough to let you see the man underneath the caution. Their scenes together build a routine you can feel, a marriage with history and private shorthand. When Boone’s Herald Loomis arrives and begins to destabilize it, you feel the ground shift because they built it so solidly under your feet.

2. The cast rides Wilson’s rhythm without rushing it.
Wilson built his plays like pieces of music. The language in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone isn’t naturalistic dialogue with poetic moments in it. The poetry is the ground with naturalism floating on top of it. What this cast understands, and what you hear in every scene, is the breath inside these lines. The humor arrives without warning, and so does the grief. The range is Wilson’s genius, and this entire cast plays it without a false step.

3. Joshua Boone earns Herald Loomis one choice at a time.
Loomis appears carrying seven years of forced labor under Joe Turner and the long quiet damage that follows it. He is looking for his wife, but what he is really trying to find is himself. Boone, a Tony nominee for The Outsiders, contains this pain without pushing. Everything about him is fixed: his gaze, his voice, his body. All of it seems to be bracing against something only he can feel. His control is what gives the release its shattering force.

4. Debbie Allen knows where to keep the focus.
Allen doesn’t layer on a concept. She wrote a 40-page study guide for her cast on Wilson’s intent and the world of 1911 Pittsburgh before rehearsals began and that preparation is visible in every scene. Her direction reads as clean and purposeful with the spiritual thread running through the play rising through action rather than superficial effects. She also gives the cast room to find the stillness the play requires. They find it.

5. Ruben Santiago-Hudson gives Bynum Walker weight and ease.
Santiago-Hudson, a Tony winner for Wilson’s Seven Guitars and accomplished writer and director, has lived inside the playwright’s language longer than almost any working actor, but he doesn’t announce any of that. He plays Bynum Walker with a light touch. He doesn’t need to indicate he’s the play’s spiritual center, it’s simply evident. Bynum’s account of the vision that gave him his purpose carries so well because Santiago-Hudson treats it as lived truth.

6. You stop watching and start living in the house.
David Gallo’s set brings you into the boardinghouse, while Paul Tazewell’s costumes tell you who each person is at a glance. This is especially clear with the women: Abigail C. Onwunali’s Martha Pentecost comes in quiet and plain. Then Maya Boyd’s Molly Cunningham sweeps in, all color and confidence. Stay with them long enough, and it starts to feel like home.

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