EXCLUSIVE: Tyler Perry has joined the Broadway producing team of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone starring Taraji P. Henson and Cedric The Entertainer ahead of the revival’s April 25 opening night.
While many such announcements are little more than celebrity name-lendings for publicity purposes, Perry is expected to serve the traditional functions of a co-producer, putting cash into the show and joining in co-producer meetings and decision-making, similar to the role played by another of the revival’s co-producers, Kandi Burruss.
“I’m so excited to be joining the producing team of this play,” Perry said in a statement to Deadline. “August Wilson’s work is a beautiful cornerstone of the Black experience. I’ve had the privilege of working with several members of this incredible cast, including Taraji and Joshua [Boone], as well as the brilliant Debbie Allen, who directed this masterpiece. Audiences are truly in for a treat, and I can’t wait for them to experience what this team has created.”
Perry’s involvement was announced by producer Brian Anthony Moreland.
“Tyler Perry is a natural born storyteller,” Moreland said. “He will be right at home in the Broadway community. We’re thrilled to have him with us as we bring this magnificent play back to life – and back to its original Broadway home.”
The limited engagement began performances on Monday, March 30, at Broadway’s Barrymore Theatre.
In addition to Henson, Cedric The Entertainer and Boone, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone also stars Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Maya Boyd, Savannah Commodore and Dominique Skye Turner sharing the role of Zonia Loomis, Abigail Onwunali, Bradley Stryker, Tripp Taylor, Christopher Woodley and Jackson Edward Davis sharing the role of Reuben Scott, and Nimene Sierra Wureh.
The synopsis: The second installment in Wilson’s American Century Cycle, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone unfolds in 1911 in a Pittsburgh boarding house run by the steadfast Seth and warm-hearted Bertha Holly. Their home offers refuge to Black travelers navigating the upheaval of the Great Migration. Among them is Herald Loomis, a man on a quest to reunite with his lost wife – and to reclaim the self he was forced to abandon during seven years of forced labor under Joe Turner. As buried traumas surface and spiritual forces awaken, Loomis’s journey becomes one of profound self-discovery.
Wilson’s play has previously been staged twice on Broadway, starting with a 1988 production that featured, among others, Angela Bassett and Delroy Lindo, and, most recently, in 2009 with a cast including Aunjanue Ellis and Ernie Hudson.
