Curve, Leicester
11th
March, 2025
“I hear the notes. I see the movement”
The
words ‘icon’ and ‘sensation’ are overused in the entertainment industry. But
there’s no one the words are more fitting for than Tina Turner. Her hair, her
voice, her energy, her frenetic performances and rocky rags-to-riches story are all iconic. And like other musical icons, Tina Turner’s life and career have now
had the bio-musical treatment which opened in London in 2018 and is still playing. Launching its UK
tour in Leicester, TINA, The Tina Turner Musical is a jukebox musical-cum-concert
and, in Phyllida Lloyd’s production, a superlative example of the form.
In
her own words on the opening night in London, the endeavour had ‘turned poison
into medicine’. The show certainly doesn’t shy away from the poison in Turner’s
life. Raised in the rural community of Nutbush, Tennessee, Anna Mae Bullock
(her real name) became a band singer in St Louis for established session singer
Ike Turner who she married in 1962. Ike refused to pay Tina for her work and the
marriage was abusive. In TINA, he’s presented as a violent, drug-taking
womaniser. In an early scene, Ike (David King-Yombo) threateningly asks if Tina
is going to give him trouble for questioning her new stage name before smashing
a cymbal on the floor. But despite this, and him owning her name, she continued
performing and refused to let herself be defined by him. The musical’s book
(written by Katori Hall with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins) cleverly navigates
the milestones in Turner’s life and largely structures the show around that
turmoil and subsequent reinvention. The show is framed by Tina kneeling preparing to go on stage in front of 180,000 fans in Brazil to sing ‘(Simply)
the Best’. As she chants a Buddhist prayer, we’re transported back to the
beginning of her story in Tennessee where she witnesses her dad beat her mom.
The act is set up as one in which violence is a thread throughout her early
life, and a tragic end almost seems inevitable. As her career grows and marriage
spirals, the act culminates in a show-stopping scene where ‘Proud Mary’ is used as the trigger to her leaving that life behind. Tina (at this performance
played by Jochebel Ohene MacCarthy) is singing ‘Proud Mary’ in concert, exuding
charisma, flirting with the audience, fully embodying the Tina Turner style
before coming to a halt mid-flow. We then see a full-on fight between her and
Ike and the end of which, in a confusion of headlights, pills and anger, we see
Tina check in to a hotel covered in blood and with nothing but 36 cents to her
name, resolute she’s not going back to that life. It demonstrates a real
commitment to storytelling, and is not often seen in a jukebox musical, for the
creative team to infuse and interrupt one of Turner’s biggest hits to portray a
pivotal and symbolic point in Turner’s career.
The
second act, with Ike taking a back seat to let Tina shine, is somewhat lighter
and highlights Turner's struggles to adapt to working with a new management team and modern methods. In a hilarious scene, her new manager Roger
Davies focuses on trying to assuage a British sound engineer who struggles to
sing a demo of ‘What’s Love Got to Do With it’ whilst Tina is close to
walking out altogether. But this new chapter isn’t without its travails either, and
we witness the perils of being an older black woman trying to kickstart
her career in an industry that didn’t always want to support her. All this
leads to the finale where we’re back at that stadium in Brazil and get to enjoy a mini Tina
Turner concert of our own (Mark Thompson’s costumes, Bruno Poet’s lighting and Nevin
Steinberg’s sound are all excellent).
There
are some weaknesses to the book: at almost 3 hours, there’s a lot to pack in. And
whilst it is very much the Tina Turner show it at times tries too hard to
change the focus onto Anna Mae and the ghosts of her old life in Tennessee.
This is perhaps unsurprising given Hall’s pedigree of writing rich stories about her home state. And whilst a scene featuring Phil Spector demonstrates
Tina’s voice and the infamous Wall of Sound on ‘River Deep – Mountain High’, I
couldn’t help but wonder if his presence was thematically inappropriate given his
history.
But
Lloyd’s production is very forgiving and pulls out all the stops to ensure the
audience has a great time. To this end, many of the more successful numbers
are performed as concert numbers rather than falling into the trap of trying to
shoehorn them into the plot. This gives Ohene MacCarthy opportunity to shine: she
seems almost possessed as she fiercely embodies the characteristic Tina Turner riffs,
movements and facial expressions. But more than just an impersonation, Ohene
MacCarthy embraces Turner’s charisma, stage presence and connection with both
song and audience. I was also impressed by King-Yombo’s Ike, both menacing and showing
the character’s downtrodden side, the effects of years of racism and feeling unrecognised
for his talents.
From
escaping her marriage to reinventing herself as a rock singer in the 80s,
Turner’s global success and icon status have been cemented by TINA and will
continue delivering her legacy around the UK.
TINA,
The Tina Turner Musical plays at
Curve, Leicester until 22nd March as part of a UK tour. The West End
production continues to play at the Aldwych Theatre. For further information,
please visit https://tinathemusical.com/
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Jochebel Ohene MacCarthy as Tina Turner in TINA, The Tina Turner Musical. Credit: Johan Persson |