BY Bob Fischbach
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Published Thursday February 26, 2009
Toward the end of the first act in "Joe Turner's Come and Gone," a transcendent moment happens on the stage of
the John Beasley Theater.
People around the dinner table at Seth and Bertha's boardinghouse, having finished a fine meal, decide to make
some music - what they call a Juba. No musical instruments in this humble establishment, but conjure man Bynum
starts a rhythmic pounding on the table, and others gradually join in with makeshift percussion and their voices.
Soon the whole room is in motion with a triumphant parade around the table, everyone singing and dancing in a cultural celebration that is at once primitive and sophisticated in its joy and beauty.
Into the middle of this outpouring bursts an angry Herald Loomis, turning the mood in a flash.
Great theater, bringing Friday's opening-night audience to its feet at curtain call.
But don't expect the entire evening to be that dramatic. The beauty of "Joe Turner," which was August Wilson's favorite play, lies in the everyday moments in 1911 Pittsburgh - the quiet depiction of human ties, grinding out an existence,
experiencing love in all its forms.
Seth (Carl Brooks) fusses over his boarders' behavior. Wife Bertha (TammyRa) calms him down and gives the house its warmth.
Bynum (John Beasley), a spiritualist with powers to "bind people," philosophizes about claiming your own song in life, and learning to sing it.
Selig (Mark O'Leary), who claims he can locate missing persons, tells how his great-granddad transported slaves on ships. Yet his bartering with Bynum and Seth is friendly.
Two shy little kids (Nadia Williams, Larry Station) chat behind the house, getting acquainted.
Young laborer Jeremy (Kelcey Watson) makes time with a pretty visitor, Mattie (Lakisha Cox). But when a flashier Molly (Yvonne Jackson) sashays into the boardinghouse, Jeremy has eyes for her, too.
And over it all, in a long black coat with his hat pulled low, an embittered Herald (Tyrone Beasley) hangs like an
ominous shadow. For years he's been looking for his wife (Rochelle Gordon), who left while he was an indentured slave.
Wilson's Tony-winning drama covers a time when blacks, having left slavery behind them, seek a new identity, a new way of believing. His dialogue, poetic in its rhythmic simplicity, finds universality in their experiences.
As a director, John Beasley infuses the show with a natural sense of truth, keeping the emotional pot simmering and only occasionally hitting a boil. The result is exemplary ensemble work, as good as you will see on any local stage.
Erin Bragg's costumes and Tyrone Beasley's set design add to the excellence, evoking period authenticity.
Apart from a couple of line fluffs, the only opening-night hitch was bad lighting cues, which caught people changing
props before they got offstage.
If you want to see John Beasley as Bynum, catch the show early. He may have auditions in Los Angeles later in the
run. Andre McGraw and Charles Galloway are understudying the role.
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