Review: TINA: THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL at Ohio Theatre

In 1984, the top U.S. Exports were fuels and related products, machinery and transportation equipment, and female pop and rock singers. For all its musical flaws (Kajagoogoo, Men Without Hats and Falco to name a few), the 1980s were a high water mark for female singers in a multitude of genres. The decade produced rock stars (Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, Joan Jett, and Pat Benatar), all-girl bands (the Bangles and the Go-Go’s), punk princesses (Deborah Harry and Wendy O. Williams), folk singers (Natalie Merchant and Suzanne Vega), divas (Whitney Houston), quirky vocalists (Cyndi Lauper) and pop tarts (Madonna). 

Among this diverse playing field in 1984, only one emerged as Queen: Tina Turner. At 44, Turner won her first Grammy, (Song of the Year for “What’s Love Got To Do With It,”) despite being at least seven years older than her fellow nominees Stevie Wonder (37), Lionel Richie (35), Phil Collins (33), and Lauper (31). Turner’s wild ride to the title is relived, reimagined, and restored in TINA: THE Tina Turner MUSICAL. The national tour of this electrifying show runs May 7-12 at the Ohio Theatre (39 E. States St. in downtown Columbus).

Americans love a comeback story and Turner’s survival of poverty, abuse, personal sacrifice, and ultimately fame makes this show engaging from start to finish.

The musical loops through time beginning with and ending with Turner’s triumphant performance in front of a 180,000-person concert in Brazil. The audience is then swooshed back in time to see her as a precocious child (the adorable Brianna Cameron) singing louder than the choir at her father’s church. Abandoned by her mother Zelma (Sheri Washington Rhone) and unloved by her father Richard (Terance Reddick), Turner makes her way to St. Louis and is discovered by up-and-coming guitarist Ike Turner (Deon Releford-Lee).

As the two begin to earn some notoriety as a duo, their love story slips into an abusive relationship. In Dallas, she escapes the clutches of Ike with her children, 36 cents, and a gas company credit card.

Turner then spends a good part of the next seven years as a struggling novelty act, forcing to sing other’s artists work because Ike Turner refused to let her perform the songs they did together. In TINA, her version of the Trammps’ “Disco Inferno,” complete with 80s big hair wigs, is hilarious.

Turner makes one last appeal to her record label, Capitol Records, to let her record a solo album. She runs into Roger Davies (Dylan S. Wallach) a budding young manager who help make “Let’s Get Physical” a hit for Olivia Newton John. Davies, a long-time Turner fan, convinces the record company and Turner to travel to England to produce what was Turner’s comeback album, “Private Dancer.”

This musical would flounder without a dynamic leading woman. In this case, TINA has two – Zurin Villanueva (who performed in the May 7 show) and Ari Groover because of the energy and vocal demands of the role.

Villanueva captures Turner’s voice, a husky, yet sensual growl, as well as her feisty attitude. When she is slapped by Ike in the first act, the entire audience recoiled in horror with her. They felt her heartache in “I Can’t Stand The Rain” and “I Don’t Want to Fight No More,” her power in “Proud Mary” and her joyous rebirth in “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” and “Simply The Best.”

Often shows take a powerful light like Villanueva’s or Groover’s and put it in a lamp so it shines before everyone. TINA takes the lead’s talent and surrounds it with a combustible cast to make a show so explosive.

 Releford-Lee is not a paper-thin villain but comes across as a flesh and blood portrayal of Ike Turner, who longs to get credit for his work and yet refuses to acknowledge his wife’s contributions to the act. Like Turner, the role of young Anna-Mae is split between Cameron and Symphony King. In the May 7 performance, Villanueva’s eyes bulged in surprise when Cameron took on the lead vocals in “Proud Mary” in the show’s high-octane encore.

Rhone, Reddick, Wallach, John Battagliese (Turner’s love interest Erwin Bach), Gigi Lewis (Alline, Turner’s sister), Omar Madden (Turner’s son Craig), Antonio Beverly (Turner’s son Ronnie) and Carla R. Stewart (Gran Georgeanna) are all a part of this incredible ensemble cast.

A tight band and lavish staging play a huge role in transforming the Ohio Theatre into a raucous concert hall at the show’s end.

Those who know Turner’s remarkable journey, also documented in the 1993 movie WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?, will be appreciate attention to detail of the script, written by Katori Hall with Frank Ketelaar and Kes Prins.

The musical doesn’t turn away from the abuse Turner endured nor does it ignore the singer’s flaws. While Turner is abandoned by her parents, she in turn is estranged from her mother by the show’s end and damages her relationship with her sons when she leaves them behind to record in London. (In real life, Craig committed suicide and Ike Junior admitted in a TV interview he hadn’t talked with his mother in nearly two decades.) She leaves her loyal, long-suffering manager Rhona (Sarah Bockel) for Davies. She is needy, demands a lot from the people around her, and often leaves others high and dry when the money gets tight.

In the musical, Turner is as complicated as she is talented.

Sadly, Turner only had two major tours in the United States in the 2000s. After seeing this heart-pounding musical, one can only imagine what it would have been like to see her perform live.

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