Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
Villanueva as Tina Turner and Garrett Turner as Ike Turner
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical has narrative shortcomings in the first half that you’ll likely forget about by the end as you get swept up in its outstanding performances and high-energy musical prowess.
Tina covers the life of Anna Mae Bullock from her childhood in Tennessee in the 1930s to her achieving superstardom as Tina Turner in the 1980s. The breadth of the story is wide, which makes the hour and a half leading up to the intermission very tightly packed.
The writing of this musical shines when its characters are sitting around making casual conversation. Some endearing personalities – and some wicked ones – make for enjoyable banter in lighter moments, but these moments are few and often far between.
Bullock’s life was never easy. She faced abandonment, prejudice, addiction and abuse for much of many years, which makes for a heavy storyline throughout this musical. Topics like these need time to breathe and unfortunately, plenty of heavy moments were dampened in Tina because its runtime simply wasn’t enough to contain everything its subject endured.
Rapidly juxtaposing Bullock’s personal and performative lives shows how impressive it was that she always went all out onstage despite behind-the-scenes stress. Again, however, Tina moves too quickly to let its somber and painful moments make a lasting impact.
Its almost all-digital set doesn’t do it many favors in this department, as characters stand in front of a large screen rather than physical spaces that feel lived in. Projections range from a country gospel church, to a hospital in St. Louis, to a backroad in Mississippi, to a London studio, moving so quickly through time and space that it can be hard to soak up any one scene.
Photo by Matt Murphy for MurphyMade
Ari Groover as Tina Turner
The performance of Brianna Cameron, who plays young Anna-Mae, was a spectacle. How such a powerful voice fit in such a small body, I could never understand. Similarly, Zurin Villanueva’s performance was believable and powerful. Her voice could be nasally and difficult to understand in some songs, but once she was embodying Turner as a more mature performer she knocked it out of the park.
When she sings and dances, Bullock’s spirit flows through Villanueva. From perfectly groovy shoulder shimmies to Turner’s signature cries, this performance undoubtedly carries the show, just as it should. Her showmanship is so electric that it constantly had me asking ‘Do we have to go back to the story?’
(NOTE: light spoilers ahead)
The second half slows the narrative way down as Bullock revitalizes her career and fights to earn a record deal against all odds. This portion benefits from frying smaller fish with its slower emotional moments, plus it doesn’t carry the burden of introducing countless new plotlines.
Light banter in studio sessions and softer moments backstage are executed with grace by the entire cast, which almost makes it more frustrating they weren’t given time to shine as much in the first half. Certain outstanding performances, including Bullock’s grandmother (Carla R. Stewart) and bandmate/affair partner (Gerard M. Williams), had only one song each to let it all out.
The concluding portion of the show – complete with the reveal of a physical set perfectly emulating an ‘80s stadium rock stage – was so stunning and fun that it will probably make you forget about the narrative shortcomings in its first act.
Ultimately, Tina is better for viewers who are already familiar with its music and story beats and it may be a lot to keep up with for someone new to Bullock’s background. Outstanding performances make the show worthwhile, and you may feel some whiplash at the end of the show having experienced a lifetime and a concert worth of songs in one night.
Tyler Kirkendall is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at tkirkendall@cityscenemediagorup.com.
