Review: TINA - THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL at QPAC, Lyric Theatre

Everyone remembers their first experience with Tina Turner, for me, it was sitting on the couch watching Schitt's Creek when on comes one of Tina's Biggest Hits 'Simply the Best.' For you, it may have been her famous NRL Performance, or in the 1985 Mad Max sequel. In a world where Biopic movies and musicals are becoming more and more prevalent, Tina - The Tina Turner Musical provides an insight into the tortured life and the vindication of one of the world's most revered singers.

If you have never seen a Biopic musical, in a nutshell it takes the story of a person (usually a musical artist) and sets their life on a backdrop of their musical legacy. This production is no different from the norm, from top to bottom we have hit after hit after hit, and with Ruva Ngwenya as the indomitable Tina Turner, you can't help but fall in love with the artist yet again.

Ngwenya did not leave the stage for the entire 2hour and 45minute musical, they are an incredible vocalist and performer, and is the pinnacle of the production. Backed by a rocking hot band they don't let up until the show end, they truly supported Ngwenya and the wider cast. Led by Christina Polimos, it was wonderful at the end to see the full band on stage in a rock concert style.

The story of Tina was taken from her life and placed onto script by Katori Hall, Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins. Tina herself served as executive producer on the original production, allowing her to steer the development process and ensure its accuracy. The production does not shy away from hard hitting topics like suicide, systemic racism and domestic violence. The writers made sure that everything was pushed in to ensure an accurate representation of Tina's life. The downfall to this production was whilst it was historically accurate, it felt like it moved too quickly to really showcase Tina's ups and downs. Additionally, the violence choreography could have been perfected more as it had not moved into the 'looking real' category just yet, the audience could still see (and very clearly know) it was stage fighting.

Directed by Phyllida Llloyd (Resident director Leah Howard), most of the blocking was natural, however there were multiple occasions where characters had their back to the audience. This reviewer understands the symbolism behind it, however for a mainstage production it felt a little 'high school drama assessment.' Additionally, the production jumped around in terms of tension and tone. it had moments of utter sadness and depression and then jumped to one of elation and happiness without any dramatic support to assist the audience.

Choreography by Anthony Van Laast helps to progress the production and is very of the era, especially with the Tina's 'performances.' however felt a little lacklustre during the full cast moments. Whether this is due to the choreography itself or due to a smaller cast we will never know. However overall, the choreography was one of the better parts of the production.

It is impossible to not include the precluding sound issues on opening night in this review. Multiple times throughout the production the balance in the auditorium was not of a professional level and mics were not working. It was clear the performers knew about the faulty mics and on stage they tried to fix them or sing into each other’s. However, as a professional mainstage production, this either should have been noted pre show or there should have been a backup to ensure the Lyric Theatre could hear the performers. Whilst this was a slip up and I'm sure will be fixed for the rest of the season, it was such a large part of opening night to not mention it.

However, the pinnacle saving grace moment of this musical was Ruva Ngwenya. Ngwenya's vocals are raspy and powerful, and impressively changes their vocals as Tina ages to ensure they took the audience on a journey through Tina's vocal highlights. Ngwenya is Tina.

Overall, Tina - The Tina Turner Musical is a good night out in Brisbane for any arts lover or lover of music. Whilst it has its faults, it is not without its merits and the cast and creatives should be commended on creating such an important story from a challenging life. Tina - The Tina Turner Musical plays at the QPAC Lyric Theatre until August 23 before it transfers to Melbourne from September 2024.

Photos by Daniel Boud

To post a comment, you must register and login.