Tina – The Tina Turner Musical – Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York

Adrienne Warren and Daniel J. Watts in Tina – The Tina Turner Musical at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York. Picture: Manuel Harlan

Tina – The Tina Turner Musical continues at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York.

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Blasting its way from London, Tina – The Tina Turner Musical has securely landed in New York, and the Broadway behemoths have quickly crowned Adrienne Warren, its star in both cities, as the new toast of the town.

I’m not sure what that will get her (a prominent table at Sardi’s – or a secluded one? A bedazzled fan drinking champagne out of her slipper?), but it’s an accolade Warren certainly deserves. She gives a super-hero performance, capturing all the charisma and talent of the titular diva, condensing it all with breath-taking energy into less than three hours and putting her own distinctive, glamorous stamp on the material as well.

It makes for a show that ignites the New York cast, giving validity to the sometimes elliptical book by Katori Hall (written with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins) and further enriching the artful staging of Phyllida Lloyd and the fun and frug-filled choreography of Anthony Van Laast.

As Tina’s first mentor and then horribly abusive husband, Daniel J. Watts intertwines a sense of the poet into Ike Turner’s complex personality. We can feel the awe and admiration he has for Tina’s talent, and when the man’s own insecurities break through into sudden violence, it’s truly frightening and gives an emotional jolt to Hall’s storytelling.

I’m sure you recall that MTR in London while praising Warren’s work to the heavens, found the London production “unimaginative and pedestrian”.  Here in New York, however, the dedication of the company to the material and the central figure pulls you into the book scenes, even though you might quibble with the writing and not always find them blessed with complete clarity.

The blending into the show’s jukebox score with some 24 numbers is fairly seamless, the score crammed with such Turner hits as ‘Proud Mary’, ‘Private Dancer’ and ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It’. The scenes showing the process of Tina’s rebirth from soul singer to rocker are particularly interesting, even with the gaps in the narrative.

Others prominent in the cast include Dawnn Lewis managing to evoke a bit of sympathy for the dominant self-survival instincts of Tina’s mother Zelma; Myra Lucretia Taylor as Tina’s loving grandmother, who took the child in after both mother and father abandoned her; and Skye Dakota Turner as Young Anna-Mae (that’s Tina before Ike renamed her).

When Warren brings the pint-sized Skye out to join her in the show’s rock concert finale, the decibel-level of the joy-filled audience goes beyond the stratosphere. Also deserving a nod is dance captain and swing Leandra Ellis-Gaston who at the performance attended took over without a hitch as Tina’s sympathetic sister Alline, after Mars Rucker suffered a mishap early in the proceedings.

Noteworthy too are Jessica Rush as Rhonda, a woman initially hired by Ike Turner as road manager who becomes Tina’s trusted aide and friend, and Steven Booth and Gerald Caesar, among others, portraying various men in Tina’s event-filled life.

Then, of course, there’s the 11-member band, with music director Nicholas Skilbeck at one of the keyboards. The hard-playing musicians come visibly into their own in the frenzied rock concert finale, exploding on the electrifying set by Mark Thompson (who also did the costumes), with Warren/Turner leading the charge, up and down a steep flight of stairs, magnificently indomitable.

       Ron Cohen

Tickets for Tina the Musical are available HERE.