2019-11-13 The Hollywood Reporter

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THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 87 NOVEMBER 13, 2019

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Theater

sketchily developed characters

are left to interact with Tina,

including Erwin Bach (Ross

Lekites), the German record exec

who would become her second

husband. (Turner and Bach are

executive producers of the show.)

There are also odd song choices

that feel shoehorned in, like “I

Can’t Stand the Rain” as memo-

ries of Tina’s past intrude on

her present.

Still, what’s important is that

the biggest musical numbers

achieve liftoff — which they do

thanks to top-notch performers,

lighting from Bruno Poet and

sound design by Nevin Steinberg.

The key to it all, though, is the

extraordinary Warren, who is as

dazzling in her tireless vocal and

dance duties as she is nuanced in

intimate dramatic moments. The

show’s flaws fade away next to the

star’s utter incandescence.

My Blood Run Cold.” Her leather-

lunged vocals wow him enough to

offer her a spot on his tour.

The rest is well known. Ike rules

over Anna Mae and his backup

singer-dancers, The Ikettes, like

a drill sergeant; the act becomes

The Ike and Tina Turner Revue;

and Ike decides they should

marry. Not that marriage dimin-

ishes his appetite for cocaine

or sex with other women, or his

habit of silencing Tina. Additional

conflict comes in scenes of ugly

racism while touring in the South.

This section delivers some

of the most electrifying songs,

including “River Deep —

Mountain High,” overseen by

producer Phil Spector (Steven

Booth), and “Proud Mary,” for

which Tina rocks the iconic gold

shimmy dress as she erupts from

the smooth opening into the raw

accelerated section.

Lloyd is renowned for her bold

classical theater work, but her

journeyman direction of musi-

cals (Mamma Mia!) does little to

inject consistent momentum into

Tina’s exile-through-comeback

years. With Ike mostly out of

the picture in these scenes, only

Adrienne Warrren (center) plays the “queen of

rock” from adolescence to middle age.

If you aim to embody the indomi-

table spirit of a beloved subject

named twice in the title of her

bio-musical, you’d better be up to

the challenge. Adrienne Warren

has what it takes, and then some

— the powerhouse voice, the jack-

hammer legs, the dance moves

and the heart — to carry Tina:

The Tina Turner Musical across

the rough patches of its book (by

Katori Hall, with Frank Ketelaar

and Kees Prins) and Phyllida

Lloyd’s direction. This production

is neither the best nor the worst

of the ongoing wave of musical

biographies, but the sensational

lead turn is not to be missed.

Warren originated the role

in London, where the show has

been a hit (the 32-year-old scored

a Tony nomination for 2016’s

Shuffle Along, but this is her star-

is-born showcase). The contours

of the story — early fame over-

shadowed by a hellish marriage,

followed by a triumphant re-

emergence — have been covered

in Turner’s autobiography I, Tina,

and in the film adaptation, What’s

Love Got to Do With It.

In a moment that induces a

shiver of excitement followed by

VENUE Lunt-Fontanne Theatre (New York)

CAST Adrienne Warren, Daniel J. Watts,

Dawnn Lewis, Nkeki Obi-Melekwe

DIRECTOR Phyllida Lloyd

BOOK Katori Hall, with Frank Ketelaar,

Kees Prins

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

Adrienne Warren’s thrilling star turn transforms an uneven bio-jukebox extravaganza into a must-see By David Rooney

a cringe, Warren’s Tina is first

glimpsed with her back to the

audience, wearing the red leather

minidress and “Lion King” mane

that became her signature look

in the ’80s. The opening bars of

“Simply the Best” give way to Tina

repeating the Buddhist chant of

determination, overlapping with

the Native American invocation

of her Gran Georgeanna (Myra

Lucretia Taylor).

The musical finds steadier

ground once it rewinds to a

Tennessee church in 1950, where

young Anna Mae Bullock (Skye

Dakota Turner) puts the choir in

the shade with her roof-raising

pipes. Her mother, Zelma (Dawnn

Lewis), scolds her for being “too

loud” and soon walks out on

her slap-happy husband (David

Jennings), leaving Anna Mae.

Cut to Anna Mae at 16 (Warren),

as her grandma urges her to go

join her mother and sister Alline

(Mars Rucker) in St. Louis, where

she can tend to the gift inside her

— her voice. A night on the town

leads to slick Kings of Rhythm

frontman Ike Turner (Daniel J.

Watts) plucking Anna Mae out of

the audience to sing “She Made