{"id":34032,"date":"2024-12-05T12:13:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-05T17:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artsknoxville.com\/?p=34032"},"modified":"2024-12-06T10:22:33","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T15:22:33","slug":"review-tina-the-tina-turner-musical-at-the-tennessee-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsknoxville.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/05\/review-tina-the-tina-turner-musical-at-the-tennessee-theatre\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: ‘Tina: The Tina Turner Musical’ at the Tennessee Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"
BY ALAN SHERROD<\/strong><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical<\/i><\/strong>, now in its second National Tour run, is making a stop in Knoxville this week for eight performances at the Tennessee Theatre<\/a>. This quintessential biographical jukebox musical follows the rise and rock queen-dom<\/i> of Anna Mae Bullock, who would eventually triumph as the super-star Tina Turner. The musical, spawned by Turner and her husband Erwin Bach before her death, had its premiere in London in 2018, before a Broadway production that opened in November of 2019. This show is pure entertainment and should be a destination for anyone who has admired Turner\u2019s ability to generate musical excitement in a song or her ability to overcome life and career obstacles on the way to success. Admittedly though, the dramatic qualities of jukebox musicals are thin and transparent, their narrative traits generally formulaic and overwhelmed by the importance and impact of the music; Tina: The Tina Turner Musical\u2014<\/i>book by Katori Hall, with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins\u2014is no exception. However, with hit songs like \u201cProud Mary,\u201d \u201cPrivate Dancer,\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s Love Got To Do With It,\u201d \u201cSimply the Best,\u201d and \u201cWe Don\u2019t Need Another Hero,\u201dany such discussion becomes a bit irrelevant.<\/p>\n

Infused with an unrelenting theatrical energy by director Phyllida Lloyd, the musical begins with Turner\u2019s childhood in Nutbush, Tennessee, suffering abuses and upheavals amid parental squabbles. Eventually moving as a teenage to St. Louis to live with her mother, young Bullock would meet the volatile character Ike Turner, who would give her the name that stuck to her throughout her career. The biographical narrative bobs and weaves, hurrying through emotional plot points\u2014and costume changes\u2014 at a frenetic pace, leaving the audience with questions of what just happened.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Clearly, the success of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical<\/i> rests on the theatrical dynamism and vocal capacity of the singer-actress portraying Turner. In this production, Jayna Elise<\/b> is spectacular as Turner, offering not just the legendary belting power and characteristic raspy vocal texture that made Turner a star, but an uncanny range that can mimic with credibility various ages of the singer. To say that this is a demanding role is an understatement; the fact that another performer, Mona Swain, performs Tina on occasion in this tour is proof of that.<\/p>\n

In supporting roles in this non-Equity cast, Sterling Baker McClary made the role of the volatile and flawed Ike Turner quite believable despite its wafer-thin characterization. Obviously, there was a keen and deliberate awareness on the part of the show\u2019s creators that the story is not about Ike, despite the dramatic intrigue of his drug use, physical abuse, and villainous behavior.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Darius J. Manuel, Taylor Brice, Deidre Lang and the cast of Tina – The Tina Turner Musical Photo by Julieta Cervantes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Elaina Walton was boldly impressive as Zelma Bullock, Tina\u2019s mother, although the writers were clearly torn in how to depict her. The cast included Deidre Lang as Tina\u2019s grandmother Gran Georgeanna; Maurice Alpharicio, as Tina\u2019s would-be lover Raymond, was strong in his duet with Elise, \u201cLet\u2019s Stay Together.\u201d Mya Bryant as sister Alline offered a fun \u201cShake a Tailfeather.\u201d Darius J. Manuel painted the role of Richard Bullock with a keen sense of reality.<\/p>\n

In the Act II comeback story, Kristen Daniels was marvelous as manager Rhonda Graam, with Joe Hornberger making sense of manager Roger Davies. The admittedly clumsy role of Erwin Bach, the German promoter who eventually married Turner (and was a co-producer of Tina<\/i> with Turner), was taken by Steven Sawan.<\/p>\n

Although the dynamic performance by Jayna Elise and the energy of the musical numbers are the undeniable essence of this show, an equal amount of the show\u2019s energy comes from the visual contributions: its deliciously abstract kinetic projections by Jeff Sugg and the energizing and, literally, in-your-face lighting design by Bruno Poet. I get the feeling that some compromises have been taken with Mark Thompson\u2019s original physical scenic elements to accommodate the rigors and reality of touring, but what remains generally works in an abbreviated form. Extended kudos also go to Nevin Steinberg\u2019s sound design and to the road personnel responsible for the intelligible dialog and lyrics of voice reinforcement that one simply can\u2019t take for granted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Jayna Elise in Tina
Photo by Julieta Cervantes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Strangely, one would expect a show of over three hours to drag, especially in the obligatory Act II \u201cfill in the narrative story\u201d scenes. Should you find yourself yearning to check your watch, take our advice and hold out to the end. A rip-roaring, jump to your feet finale will be your reward.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical<\/strong>
\nTennessee Theatre<\/span>
\nThrough Sunday, December 8<\/span>
\nTickets<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, now in its second National Tour run, is making a stop in Knoxville this week for eight performances at the Tennessee Theatre. This quintessential biographical jukebox musical follows the rise and rock queen-dom of Anna Mae Bullock, who would eventually triumph as the super-star Tina Turner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22],"tags":[1604,506,588,1603],"class_list":["post-34032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theatre","tag-jayna-elise","tag-review","tag-tennessee-theatre","tag-tina-turner"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artsknoxville.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/tina-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96TJ0-8QU","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34342,"url":"https:\/\/artsknoxville.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/01\/review-moulin-rouge-the-musical-at-the-tennessee-theatre\/","url_meta":{"origin":34032,"position":0},"title":"Review: ‘Moulin Rouge! 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