‘Tina – The Tina Turner Musical’ left the West End after seven years and is now on its first UK tour, reaching Birmingham’s Hippodrome this week.

Written by Olivier Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Katori Hall along with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins and directed by Phyllida Lloyd of  ‘Mama Mia!’ fame, ‘Tina’ raises the bar of jukebox musicals to new levels.

Tina’s story from humble beginnings in Nutbush Tennessee – where she suffered at the hands of unloving and ‘spare the rod’ parents – to becoming the queen of rock ‘n’ roll, is as gritty as it is a hardcore rock fest featuring

classic after classic perfectly woven into the storylines.

Picture by Johan Persson. s

The show doesn’t pull any punches – and neither does David King-Yombo as Tina’s violent, misogynistic husband, Ike Turner.

Yombo captures perfectly the narcistic paranoia of an artist who has reached his personal zenith and can’t stand to see his wife rising to greater heights than him.

After escaping from 16 years of brutal marriage to Ike, there followed many years in the wilderness. Tina took on a cleaning job in the daytime and sang in clubs at night to keep a roof over her children’s heads, before

she was rediscovered and became the icon she was destined to be.

Picture by Johan Persson. s

Jochebel Ohene MacCarthy makes a wonderous Tina Turner – she captures her strength, her foibles, her sassiness and her unique voice. MacCarthy is a star playing a star and took us through the whole gambit of emotions and then invited us to a party when the story telling was done.

Never have I known the Hippodrome shake so much with the audience stomping to the beat in the walkdown.

In an exceptional high energy cast, stand out performances for me were Chizaram Ochuba-Okafor as a scene-stealing young Tina and Letitia Hector as her hideously cruel mother Zelma.

Picture by Johan Persson. s

Bruno Poet’s lighting design is a masterclass of creating the mood and Jeff Sugg’s projections make a stunning, oft jaw-dropping ultra glitzy backdrop.

Likewise Mark Thompson’s costumes shout out on every level, choreography by Anthony van Laast was so right it told its own story and  the orchestra under maestro Sarah Burell completed the creative magic.

This tale of resilience is the ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ of rock ‘n’ roll, blessed with a songbook featuring everything from ‘River Deep, Mountain High’ to ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ – Tina the Musical is indeed ‘Simply the Best’!

Tina runs until next Saturday (June 28). Click here for times, tickets and more.

*****

Review by Euan Rose

Euan Rose reviews