Adrienne Warren in Tina the Musical at the Aldwych Theatre, London. Picture: Manuel Harlan
Tina the Musical continues at the Aldwych Theatre, London.
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
Tina the Musical is a hotchpotch of an evening taken to another level in the final stages by the stunning talent and stage presence of Adrienne Warren as the iconic recording artist Tina Turner.
It tends to be the case in jukebox musicals that songs are either incorporated into a fictional or biographical narrative, but however flimsy a libretto, an audience still has to engage with the story being told (as this show’s director, Phyllida Lloyd, who enjoyed a phenomenal hit with Mamma Mia!, well knows).
Admittedly, plenty of people sat around me appeared to be having a great time (one called the show “spellbinding”), but Act I in particular – during which we see the trauma Tina experienced in both her early childhood and during her abusive relationship with Ike Turner – failed to tug on my heartstrings.
One of the few exceptions was when Tina found herself in Phil Spector’s studio to sing ‘River Deep, Mountain High’ – for once, without Ike breathing down her neck – then there were goosebumps aplenty.
But ultimately this is an unimaginative and pedestrian production with Tina tracks clumsily slotted into scenes alongside Katori Hall’s surprisingly cliched dialogue. Plus the production values (cue yet another colourful, blurred set of projections) turn the staging into something resembling an extended pop video.
Despite Warren’s prowess as an actress and vocalist, I was left yearning to know more about Tina as a person, about what makes her tick – was this musical going to tell me anything I didn’t know already?
Fortunately, Act II goes some way to redeem the piece by allowing in some light and shade. In other words, there is an opportunity to see more of Tina’s personality through her relationships with those around her – the feelings of friendship expressed between Tina and her manager/companion Rhonda Graam (the always likeable Francesca Jackson) is one case in point.
It’s also rather rewarding to witness Tina’s comeback from ‘fortysomething has-been’, to see her discover that special new sound which led her from near-bankruptcy to award-winning albums and regular stadium tours.
There is a charming scene during which Tina hears ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It’ for the very first time, sung in somewhat basic fashion by the writer Terry Britten (Tom Godwin) and then, of course, there is the rock concert finale which the audience has been waiting all evening for.
Watching Warren in those final numbers is like nothing else – it is uplifting to see that drive, that energy, that star quality. She brings the house down.
It is the fire and imagination demonstrated in these choreographed set pieces (credit here to Anthony Van Laast), even including the curtain calls, that are sadly missing in much of what has come before.
The rest of the cast does pretty well with the flimsy material they have been handed, and there are some decent cameos from Aisha Jawando as Tina’s sister Alline, Natey Jones as musician/singer Raymond Hill and Ryan O’Donnell as producer Roger Davies, but it doesn’t feel like a great deal of thought has been put into giving these characters any extra dimension.
Many of us are familiar with Ike Turner’s violent and abusive reputation, but what about the other aspects of his personality that attracted Tina to him in the first place, or his talent as a musician? Thus, the character is simply transformed into a panto villain with actor Kobna Holbrook-Smith booed when he takes a bow.
For fans of Tina Turner, this show is likely to tick all the right boxes and there is a good chance the story could lead younger members of the audience to discover her music for the first time. However, as a stage production trying to achieve something different or imaginative with the great lady’s life and work, it feels disappointing.
Lisa Martland
Tickets for Tina the Musical are available HERE
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