Ruva Ngwenya as Tina Turner. Photo: Daniel Boud
With Tina Turner’s mega-hit songs buzzing in my head, it’s hard to resist calling this musical ‘simply the best’. But on the other hand, credit where credit is due: with Ruva Ngwenya belting out such classics as ‘Proud Mary’ and shimmying across the stage in a bundle of frenetic, gold lamé-clad energy, it’s as close as we are going to get to the real Tina, born Anna Mae Bullock in 1939 in Tennessee. Katori Hall’s book encapsulates the astonishing trajectory of her life of and gives us insight into the trials and ultimate triumph of the woman better known as Tina Turner. The show is a triumph, too. Great performances, a great band and engrossing from start to rock-concert finish.
We start at the beginning, with little Anna Mae (Amara Kavaliku in the performance I saw) playing up in church, unable to sit still but perfectly able to sing her heart out. We meet her sister Alline (Camile Nko’o), from whom she is soon to be temporarily parted when their mother Zelma (Ibinabo Jack) opts out of her abusive marriage and sends the unloved Anna Mae to live with her GG, her grandmother (played by understudy Tendai Rinomhota). In St Louis, when she is 16 years of age, Anna Mae is reunited with Zelma and the adult Alline (Jayme-Lee Hanokom) and shortly thereafter meets Ike Turner (Tim Omaji), who invites her to join his band, The Kings of Rhythm. A few years later, in 1962, Ike renames Anna Mae and also his band. The Ike and Tina Turner Revue is born. Most Tina Turner fans will know what happens next.
Act I is as much a play as a musical, taking as through the ups and downs of Tina’s early career and the now well-known relationship she endured with her violent and abusive husband. It also gives us fabulous rundown of their hits, including ‘Shake a Tail Feather’, the monstrously successful Phil Spector Wall of Sound production ‘River Deep Mountain High’, all the way through to ‘Proud Mary’ – a goose-bumpily good rendition by Ngwenya, but which culminates in Tina’s long held-back realisation that she must leave Ike. With two sons from that marriage to support, and little likelihood of a solo career in a music world rife with ageism and sexism, her future looks bleak. Except Tina Turner doesn’t give in easily.
In Act 2, she is in London with her Australian manager Roger Davis (Mat Verevis) and records ‘Private Dancer’ at Abbey Studios. It becomes an overnight hit. She meets Terry Britten (John O’Hara), co-writer of ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It’, which will become her million-selling hit and earn her the Grammy award for Record of the Year in 1985. In London, she also meets Erwin Bach (Matthew Prime), who will become (and still is) her second husband.
These are the bare bones of a story that began in the cotton fields of the American South and ended in sold-out concert stages around the world. It is Tina’s story through and through, but of course we get a little insight into what made Ike, another musical genius scarred by childhood abuse, into the man he became. Omaji gives us a suitably unlikeable Ike.
Also in Act 2, the band comes into its own. Led by musical director Christina Polimos, the Theatre Royal is now a rock venue. With the musicians on stage, lights blazing and costumes a-glitter, Ngwenya channels the high-octane Tina that her fans know and love. Her stamina and energy are there, and Ngwenya’s voice is strong and powerful as she belts out ‘(Simply) The Best]. Stephan Schafer’s tenor saxophone solo is a highlight in itself and mention must also be made of solo guitarist Joey McCoy, drummer Sisa Koroi and bass player Joseph Tabua.
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd (and staged here by Associate Director Nicholai La Barrie), with set and costume design by Mark Thompson and choreography by Anthony van Laast, the show brought the audience to its feet.
And it was a nice touch to bring young Anna Mae and her sister back for the finale. Kavaliku’s voice is incredibly powerful for her years and she is an endearing Anna Mae. But the show belongs to Ruva Ngwenya and her powerful rendition of a rock legend.
At the Theatre Royal until 22 October.
Tickets from $69-$249, plus $8.95 handling fee.
More information at www.tinathemusical.com.au
