Obamas Give Joe Turner Box Office a Boost

By Andrew Gans
and Adam Hetrick
01 Jun 2009

President Barack Obama at Joe Turner's Come and Gone
President Barack Obama at Joe Turner's Come and Gone
Photo by Noel Calingasan

President and First Lady Obama attended the May 30 evening performance of the Tony-nominated revival of August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone at the Belasco Theatre.

The Obama visit has helped box-office sales, according to The New York Post.

A production source told the New York daily that the number of advance tickets sold May 31 was triple the number purchased the previous Sunday.

Bartlett Sher directs the first Broadway revival of late playwright Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone, which officially opened April 16 at the Belasco.

The cast features Chad L. Coleman (Two Trains Running) as Herald Loomis, as well as Tony nominee Roger Robinson (Seven Guitars), Marsha Stephanie Blake (The Crucible), Michael Cummings (Emancipation), Aunjanue Ellis (The Tempest), Danai Gurira (In the Continuum), Andre Holland (Wig Out), Arliss Howard (A Number), Ernie Hudson (The Great White Hope), LaTanya Richardson Jackson (For Colored Girls…) and Amari Rose Leigh ("Law and Order").

Joe Turner, according to Lincoln Center, "tells the story of Herald Loomis who, after serving seven years hard labor, has journeyed North with his young daughter and arrives at a Pittsburgh boarding house filled with memorable characters who aid him in his search for his inner freedom."

The production has set design by Michael Yeargan, costume design by Catherine Zuber, lighting design by Brian MacDevitt and sound design by Leon Rothenberg and Scott Lehrer.

For tickets visit LCT.org The Belasco Theatre is located at 111 West 44th Street.