TINA - The Tina Turner Musical

 Curve, Leicester

11^th 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 22^nd 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/

Jochebel Ohene MacCarthy as Tina Turner in TINA, The Tina Turner Musical. Credit: Johan Persson