David Mirvish/Tina, The Tina Turner Musical, ebook by Katori Corridor with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins, that includes the songs of Tina Turner, directed by Phyllida Lloyd, CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre, closes July 28. Tickets here.
There positive are lots of Tina Turner followers in Toronto. The packed home screamed and whooped and hollered their approval with each new track. You would really feel the thrill within the theatre. It was palpable.
However then, the woman in query had an enormous character and a good greater voice. You’d should be made from stone to not be swept up within the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s charisma.
There are two sorts of juke field musicals. The primary is setting a discovered songbook round an unrelated story. The second is setting a discovered songbook round a biography. Tina, The Tina Turner Musical is an ideal instance of the latter the place we get the famous person’s life advised via her personal music.
The present opened in London in 2018 on the Aldwych Theatre the place it’s nonetheless going robust. It did have a Broadway run that obtained caught by COVID, and performed for a short while after theatres reopened. The present in Toronto is a part of the North American tour.
Turner and her husband Erwin Bach had been govt producers on the musical. I did learn that Turner was probably not pleased with the 1993 bio pic, What’s Love Received to Do with It, for the liberties that it took with the reality. Given her involvement with this present, one should assume that what we’re seeing are the unvarnished info. Curiously, Turner handed away in 2023, however she nonetheless will get full credit score in this system.
The primary act follows Turner as she lurches from one abusive relationship to a different — her father, her mom, and husband Ike Turner weren’t good individuals. Nonetheless, she was in a position to set up an essential singing profession as a part of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. The primary act ends with Turner operating for her life from her abusive husband.
![Brianna Cameron as 'Young Anna Mae' and the North American touring company of TINA - The Tina Turner Musical (Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade, 2023)](https://www.ludwig-van.com/toronto/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Brianna-Cameron-as-Young-Anna-Mae.jpg)
The second act options what has been referred to as one of many best comebacks within the historical past of pop music. Turner, now in her 40s, turns into a famous person with the assistance of a 25-year-old Australian whiz child producer, Roger Davies. She additionally meets the love of her life, German-born Erwin Bach, 16 years her junior.
Using the Turner songbook is fascinating. Numbers do happen as a part of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, and through Turner’s comeback, however lots of them are used to hold the narrative. Characters get to sing about their emotions or as commentary on the scenario, so how the songs had been inserted into the story is spectacular. For instance, Tina sings Don’t Flip Round, first together with her grandmother, and later, in a reprise, together with her mom, every reflecting a distinct relationship.
Two of the West Finish’s main lights labored on the present — specifically director Phyllida Lloyd and choreographer Anthony Van Laast — and these two skills completely assure high quality.
For many of the present, Mark Thompson’s set employs the minimal use of pushed on items and props, in opposition to a terrific projection design by Jeff Sung. The finale, nevertheless, pulls out all of the stops with a full stage sound and light-weight present that ensures an instantaneous standing ovation. The group heaped love at that stage.
Two singers are alternating the function of Tina, presumably as a result of she’s by no means off stage so it’s a heavy demand on an artist.
![Zurin Villanueva as ‘Tina Turner’ in the North American touring production of TINA – THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL (Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade, 2022)](https://www.ludwig-van.com/toronto/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Zurin-V-Tina.jpg)
I noticed Zurin Villanueva who can act up a storm, make all the precise dance strikes, and has a voice that rocked the theatre. Sadly, she has a mannered approach of supply, and I might barely make out one phrase of the lyrics. She may as properly have been singing in Swahili, however it didn’t matter as a result of the sheer drive of her character was an assault on the senses. Moreover, everyone within the viewers appeared to know the songs. So, zero for diction, however a ten out of ten for sheer magnetism.
There are another superb actor/singers within the solid. Crystal Pleasure was a sympathetic Gran Georgeanna, Gigi Lewis was her spirited older sister Aline, Sarah Bockel did a pleasant flip because the put upon supervisor Rhonda, whereas Brianna Cameron because the younger Anna-Mae Bullock (aka Tina Turner) wowed the viewers with a powerful voice for somebody so younger.
It was the meanies, nevertheless, who, of their approach, gave Villanueva a run for her cash.
Roz White as Tina’s ice-cold mom Zelma was unrelenting in her cruelty with out ever elevating her voice. What an terrible lady! And as for the deplorable Ike Turner, Deon Releford-Lee was a slimeball on steroids. The actor projected violence even when he was standing nonetheless. He was menace incarnate.
In a approach, Tina, The Tina Turner Musical, was all the time going to be an apparent hit. It’s obtained the story and it’s obtained the songs. What’s to not like?
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