Four Things The Tina Turner Musical Must Avoid

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical arrives at London’s Aldwych Theatre in March 2017. Written by Olivier Award-winning playwright Katori Hall and directed by the BAFTA and Tony Award-nominated Phyllida Lloyd, a musical honouring the legendary Queen of Rock has the potential for utter brilliance. The Aldwych was previously the home of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical which proved a roaring success with audiences and critics. Hopefully, Tina can follow in these footsteps. Fortunately, like Carole King, Tina Turner has a fantastic repertoire.

However, this does not guarantee the musical’s success. There is also plenty of scope for disappointment or even disaster. Here at The House That Soul Built we’ve made a cautionary guide as to what we think Tina must avoid (and embrace) to have longevity on the West End.

Don’t be karaoke or beige

An obvious point, yet incredibly important for any jukebox musical. As a testament to her success, Tina Turner’s greatest hits have become karaoke staples oft-remembered for their singalong, ear-candy choruses. Hit songs in general even run the risk of being remembered as throwaway karaoke songs, rather than well-performed songs with genuine integrity (think Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’). It is thus imperative for the musical to avoid any semblance of karaoke in its delivery of Tina’s vast repertoire. It cannot be stressed enough that production values and performance quality need to be sky-high. There is no room for botched notes or sloppy choreography.

There is a flip-side to this argument. While the musical runs the risk of delving into karaoke like many jukebox musicals before it (Motown: The Musical, Thriller Live), there is also a risk of the performances falling into the beige category of ‘good, but not great’. Unlike other new musicals with original content, audiences and critics will have a main reference point for all the songs in Tina: the originals. There is a lot on the shoulders of Adrienne Warren, the actor cast as Ms Turner, and her alternate Jenny Fitzpatrick. The obvious task for both performers is to imitate Ms Turner’s husky, sandpapery tone.

The next challenge for Warren and Fitzpatrick is to capture the essence of Ms Turner as a performer. Tina Turner is idolised for her rugged, raw, and fearless performance style. While technical precision is required of any theatre performer, Warren and Fitzpatrick must not give overly slick, calculated performances. The role requires a degree of abandon. A song such as ‘The Best’, performed by anyone other than Ms Turner herself, requires a certain energy and ferocity to be anything other than pale. Thus, Warren and Fitzpatrick should be encouraged to experiment with their performances and perform as Tina would, rather than Tina did. Following this mantra will allow Warren and Fitzpatrick to give a degree of freshness to Ms Turner’s catalogue while still honouring the spirit of the original material.

Don’t skimp on narrative

The critical response to Motown: The Musical should serve as a cautionary tale for Tina. The former was justly criticised for banking its success solely on the music. The script was entirely perfunctory, used to fill the gaps between songs with no real interrogation of any of the ‘characters’.

With Tina Turner herself playing an integral creative role in the production, Tina has promoted itself as a bio-musical. Thus, there is hope that the production will have a clear narrative drive. From her humble upbringings, success with Ike & Tina Turner, her abusive relationship with her husband, and the rebuilding of a music career as a solo artist, there is no shortage of opportunity from a directorial perspective. While the musical will surely tackle Ms Turner’s suffering under Ike Turner and her eventual escape, it will hopefully also provide an insight into the creative processes which birthed Tina Turner’s unique sound and style.

Yet the question remains as to how successfully the musical will tackle Ms Turner’s 50+ year career and her romantic and personal life too. Overstretch remains a perennial issue. Somewhat promisingly, this is something which director Phyllida Lloyd has shown awareness of. Remarking at the Tina launch event, Lloyd acknowledged the impossibility of telling anyone’s life in two hours and that the musical’s objective was to ‘reflect the shape and spirit of [Tina Turner’s] life’.

Don’t attempt too many songs

Of course, Tina is a jukebox musical. Audiences and critics will be expecting the classics. Hence, it is a wildly obvious that the likes of ‘Nutbush City Limits’, ‘Proud Mary’, ‘The Best’, and ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ will make an appearance.

Yet while there is a risk of narrative overstretch, there is the risk of musical overstretch too. Again, Motown: The Musical provides some illuminating take-home messages for the creative/production team on Tina. The former was relentless in sandwiching songs into the production. Most songs were never performed in full and had little baring on the narrative.

The music for Tina needs to be selected judiciously. The material needs to be representative of Ms Turner’s catalogue and the history being surveyed. Attempting too many songs risks impinging on narrative. Also, while one or two medleys cannot harm, the songs need to be performed in full and not as vignettes. This is not least because certain songs rely on the build up of tension (‘Proud Mary’, ‘Private Dancer’ for example). Moreover, to condense a 4-minute song into 90 seconds is more the work of an X Factor-style talent show with little appreciation of a song’s structure, lyrics, and development.

Don’t pander to the audience.

While Tina has to sell, it should not sacrifice its integrity as a piece of art on the altar of commercial success. Many audience members may turn up solely for 2.5 hours of musical nostalgia, with little interest in narrative or even in performance quality. At the risk of sounding dull, the musical should not be an audience singalong and should not be designed with audience enjoyment as the objective. This is not a Tina Turner tribute concert but apparently the ‘untold story of a woman who dared to defy the bounds of her age, gender and race’. Hence, every directorial decision must be made with the narrative in mind.

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We will be reviewing Tina once performances begin in March. In the meantime we will be waiting excitedly. Best of luck to the cast and creative teams!