There are few artists today who can boast a discography on the level of Tina Turner’s. With hits spanning over five decades, Ms Turner’s back catalogue is expansive and impressive enough that a night featuring some of the public’s favourites is a sure-fire guarantee of a good time.
If that’s all you might expect Tina: The Musical to provide, however, you’d be sorely mistaken – as this brand new show, debuted at the West End’s Aldwych Theatre, is a celebration of her musical greatness, as well as a heartfelt, inspiring telling of the life of a Southern US girl’s journey through heartache and despair, to becoming simply, the best.
Ten-year-old Claudia Elie (who shares the role with Reya-Nyomi Brown and Serena Mukuna) begins the story as young Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee, a little girl with a voice and personality that cannot be contained. The story really gets into gear, however, when we meet her at age 16, leaving her grandmother’s care to live with her estranged mother and sister Alline in St Louis, Missouri – as it’s there where her talent is first realised, and we begin to see the distinctions between private Anna Mae, and public ‘Tina’.
Taking on the title role is American actress Adrienne Warren, a Tony Award nominee, in her West End debut – and it is clear from hearing her sing the first bars of ‘Don’t Turn Around’ that the audience is bearing witness to something very special.
Adrienne Warren as Tina Turner. Photo credit: Manuel Harlan
Warren gives the performance of a lifetime as Ms Turner, nailing the familiarities of her voice, moves, stance and mannerisms, while keeping it far from the realms of being a tribute act. Warren breathes this role, with confidence and raw emotion pouring out of her with every breathtaking wail on the mic. It’s a massive task to be able to embody someone so beloved, so alive, so well; but Warren more than achieves it, and is the driving force behind this show’s success.
As Tina’s ex-husband and former musical partner, Ike Turner, Ghanaian-British actor Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is just the right amount of fearsome without coming across as a caricature villain. With the ensemble tackling Anthony Van Laast’s choreography with precision, and a clever set that makes use of projections and a moving stage to take us across countries and time periods, it is a visual treat as well as impressing sonically.
Adrienne Warren as Tina Turner; Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as Ike Turner. Photo credit: Manuel Harlan
Where many may think they know Tina’s story from the 1993 biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It, Tina: The Musical doesn’t dwell too long in the moments of abuse under the control of Ike Turner, and fleshes out what happened next. Written by Katori Hall, the musical’s plot is ultimately one of triumph – it exposes the difficult relationship Tina had with her mother, and shows how racist and ageist prejudices of the record company threatened to stop her solo career in its tracks, adding extra levels of amazement to how Ms Turner managed to surpass the odds stacked against her to become the undisputed Queen of Rock and Roll.
Adding to the electricity felt on press night (17th April 2018), Tina Turner herself stood up in front of the audience at the end to deliver a moving final message: ‘It is possible to turn poison into medicine’. This show is proof that struggle can be the soil that grows something truly magical.
Rating: *****
Now booking to 16 February 2019, at Aldwych Theatre, West End – tinathemusical.com, box office: 0845 200 7981
