Review: ‘Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,’ With Taraji P. Henson and Cedric the Entertainer

Key Points:

• August Wilson’s play "Joe Turner’s Come and Gone," set in a Pittsburgh boardinghouse in 1911, explores themes of migration, identity, and spirituality through a mix of realism and myth.
• Debbie Allen’s revival of the play opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theater nearly 40 years after its Broadway premiere, featuring a strong cast including Cedric the Entertainer and Taraji P. Henson, though some staging and ensemble performances show room for growth.
• The story centers on Black southerners migrating north during the Great Migration, settling temporarily in a boardinghouse run by Seth and Bertha Holly, highlighting the characters’ constant thoughts of movement and change.
• Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s character, Bynum, a “conjure man,” symbolizes the connection between ancestral African spirituality and Christianity, seeking a mystical “shiny man” to cross into the spirit world.
• The play repeatedly emphasizes the motif of the “road,” symbolizing both physical journeys and metaphysical transitions, with the word mentioned 48 times, underscoring the themes of passage and transformation.