Taraji P. Henson and Cedric ‘The Entertainer’ Head to Broadway in Revival of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

Taraji P. Henson is making her Broadway debut, and she’s bringing Cedric “The Entertainer” with her!

The Empire star and Oscar nominee — who previously served as a producer on the Tony Award nominated Jaja’s African Hair Braiding — will take the Main Stem stage for the first time in a new production of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, opening in New York City at a Shubert theatre in spring 2026.

Henson, 54, will play Bertha Holly, the warm and welcoming matriarch of a Pittsburgh boarding house, opposite Cedric, 61, as her husband Seth.

The revival will be directed by Emmy and Golden Globe winner Debbie Allen, who is also receiving an honorary Oscar at this year’s Governors Awards.

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It marks the latest return to Wilson’s legendary work for producer Brian Anthony Moreland, whose hit productions of The Piano Lesson (starring Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington) and Othello (with Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal) have helped usher in a new era of starry, high-impact Broadway dramas.

“We are truly honored to return to August Wilson’s legacy,” Moreland said in a statement. “With Debbie Allen’s visionary direction and this extraordinary cast, the entire company will present a performance that resonates deeply and lingers in the hearts and minds of all who experience it.”

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First staged on Broadway in 1988 in a production starring L. Scott Caldwell, Mel Winkler and Angela Bassett, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is the second play in Wilson’s acclaimed American Century Cycle.

Set in 1911, it tells the story of Herald Loomis, a man haunted by the trauma of enslavement and searching for his wife — and his sense of self — after years in captivity. As he moves through the Holly home and the community it shelters, questions of identity, history and spiritual reckoning unfold.

The revival marks a theatrical homecoming for Cedric, who previously appeared on Broadway in American Buffalo in 2008.

Henson, meanwhile, joins a growing list of Hollywood stars making their Broadway debuts as the theater industry continues a post-pandemic boom. Last season alone, George Clooney, Robert Downey, Jr., Sarah Snook, and Nicole Scherzinger were among the famous faces who treaded the boards.

Additional casting for Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, as well as ticket information, an official theater and the show’s production dates, will be announced later.