PICK - Joe Turner's Come and Gone - to June 14

Lincoln Center Theater presents a revival of August Wilson's play, Joe Turner's Come and Gone. Set in 1911, Herald Loomis arrives with his young daughter at a Pittsburgh boarding house; we learn that he and his daughter have been on the road for three years, ostensibly in search of Herald's wife but in fact, he is really looking for freedom from the awful memories of his abduction and involuntary service for seven years on a forced labor gang. The boarding house is filled with memorable characters who aid or impede his search for his inner freedom. Cast: Marsha Stephanie Blake, Chad L. Coleman, Michael Cummings, Aunjanue Ellis, Danai Gurira, Andre Holland, Arliss Howard, Ernie Hudson, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Amari Rose Leigh, Roger Robinson. Director is Bartlett Sher.
Our first report came from Sue, an avowed August Wilson fan, who calls it a PICK. She says,

"We went to see Joe Turner's Come and Gone, by August Wilson, whom we really love,and I have to say I thought it was a terrific production. It is a very long play at three hours, but not wordy. I thought it flew by. It got a standing ovation. It is very serious drama and therefore, not for everybody ....but perfect for some theatergoers. It is about the sometimes terrible lives of black people just after Reconstruction...The Belasco is a wonderful old theater and we enjoyed ourselves enormously."

An anonymous commenter says: "I second the rave. The acting was tremendous and the play was riveting. I was somewhat apprehensive as the only Wilson play I saw previously -- Radio Golf -- had left me underwhelmed. This was fantastic, and made me understand why Wilson is such a big name. Plus, seeing Chad Coleman live, after loving him as "Cutty" on the Wire, was a treat!"
I think that those who are already fans of August Wilson's drama will find this a "must see", but some people will find the first act talky and slow. However, the high point of the drama is well worth the wait: a scene in which the residents of the boarding house follow their Sunday dinner with wonderful drumming and dancing in an African-American tradition they call "jouba"; then Herald Loomis enters in a fit to recount a horrific vision or nightmare of "dry bones" who walk upon the sea until they sink and drown; the scene is chilling. The play is threaded through with examples of the lingering wounds in the African American community created by slavery and its aftermath.
-- Ellen