A clumsy piece of storytelling buoyed by Adrienne Warren’s raw charisma and talent.

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The positive conclusion one can draw from Tina: The Tina Turner Musical is that a star is born. Adrienne Warren is certainly the most compelling reason to see Tina. A Tony Award nominated actress, Warren was apparently picked by Tina Turner herself for the title role. Moreover, Tina marks Warren’s West End debut.

And she is electrifyingly good. While channelling Tina’s signature gravel with remarkable control, Warren finds her own voice as Tina. She imbues a vulnerability into ‘Private Dancer’, gives ‘I Can’t Stand The Rain’ a pained frustration, and rips into ‘River Deep Mountain High’. She treats Tina Turner’s catalogue as one to be acted, interpreted, and emoted, rather than simply performed in the likeness of the Queen of Rock.

Warren’s singing and performing brightens what is sadly an unilluminating book. The production promised an ‘untold story of a woman who dared to defy the bounds of her age, gender and race’. This proved a rather liberal oversell.

There is certainly a brilliant story to work with. From incredibly humble origins in rural Tennessee, young Anna Mae Bullock was swept to stardom as part of a double act with rock and roll pioneer, and her soon-to-be-husband, Ike Turner (played convincingly by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith). As the Ike and Tina Turner Revue dazzled audiences, Tina suffered abuse at the hands of Ike, eventually fleeing with no money or royalties. In the 1980s, Tina fashioned a musical comeback of tremendous proportions as a solo artist. Especially in the age of ‘#MeToo’ and ‘reclaiming my time’, Tina Turner’s story has an irresistible pull.

The musical attempts to tackle all of the above. As a result, there is serious narrative overstretch. The first act glosses over Tina’s tumultuous childhood and portrays her rise to stardom as part of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. With a large number of songs to accommodate, this proves a busy first act. The ambitiousness of Katori Hall’s book raises more questions than it answers – whether it be about Tina’s father, her relationship with saxophonist Raymond Hill (with whom she had her first child), and the specific trajectory of the Revue. As expected, Ike and Tina’s relationship is the main dramatic focus of the first act. However, this sixteen year relationship is condensed to a handful of tense conversations and violent episodes. The psychological manipulation and control, which Turner has recounted so chillingly in her autobiography and in various interviews, is not fully realised here.

While the first act seems rushed, the second feels shapeless as Tina drifts around attempting to kick-start a solo career. Hall’s book meanders along different scenes with desperately bland dialogue. The burgeoning relationship between Tina and Erwin Bach (played by Gerard McCarthy) falls particularly flat. Aspects of Phyllida Lloyd’s direction and the staging  blight the production too, from clumsy montage sequences to progress the narrative, and the use of excessive sets which gives the production a rather bloated quality.

Perhaps in an attempt to avoid typical ‘jukebox musical’ criticisms, the production integrates songs from Tina’s career into the narrative as ‘book songs’.  Occasionally, this is done well – such as Warren delivering ‘Better Be Good To Me’ to a frozen-in-time Ike as she contemplates his marriage proposal. However, the songs are often twisted awkwardly to fit into the narrative. Sometimes this is done with shocking inappropriateness: for example, Ike Turner breaking out into ‘Be Tender With Me Baby’ after physically abusing his wife.

The second act stumbles towards the inevitable concert finale which most audiences were expecting and hoping for. Though undeniably pandering, it is Warren’s expert delivery which lifts this more typical ‘tribute’ segment above mere karaoke.

(Disclaimer: The review above is based on a preview performance of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical)

(Image Copyright:  Tina Turner Musical Limited)