Review: Tina: The Tina Turner Musical at Crown Theatre

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical at Crown Theatre
Saturday, March 2, 2024

“You die on me, I’m gonna kill you!”

This comedic line about a suicide attempt from Tim Omaji, who plays Ike Turner in Tina, lies at the heart of what makes Tina Turner’s tragic (but uplifting) musical so entertaining.

Specifically written to depict her early life and journey in the music industry, rather than the hard-won stardom she finally achieved, it is filled with ugly scenes of racism and abuse. If Tina is the hero, Ike is the villain, and his coked-up domestic abuse and controlling ways dominate the first act.

Born Anna Mae Bullock, Tina witnesses her own father’s violence towards her mother from a young age, with the latter in turn becoming abusive towards her daughters.

This segues from her early rural upbringing in Nutbush, Tennessee, to a big city move where she encounters the coolest rocker in town, Ike Turner. Quickly recognising her talent, 25-year-old Ike takes 17-year-old Tina on the road, and by this point, the hits are coming thick and fast, with a live band joining the cast on stage.

Whether it’s the classic Let’s Stay Together or her big '80s hit Better Be Good to Me (ironically sung to Ike when he proposes), the non-chronological ordering of tracks is smart and allows for fluid storytelling.

As Tina gets pregnant, fame starts to grow, and Ike’s philandering ways come to the fore. His drug use and the psychedelic '60s go out with a bang on a trippy I Want to Take You Higher; with its impressive visuals, this is arguably the show’s peak, clearly illustrating the instability and unsustainability of a life split between family and fame.

Just when the emotions are running high, a comic turn from John O’Hara as weirdo producer-genius Phil Spector puts the comedy in tragicomedy as he implores Tina to sing “like you are singing to the god within yourself!”

And so it goes. Part musical comedy, part the best tribute show you’ve ever seen, it’s also the rare theatrical show with a stronger first act. While some of her biggest songs, including Private Dancer and We Don’t Need Another Hero, appear during act two, they occasionally feel shoehorned in and not applicable to the story.

The great exception is What’s Love Got to Do With It, which, in one hilarious scene, is nearly canned by Tina due to its early '80s synth-pop demo. Meanwhile, The Best is segued into a stunning production move that spectacularly turns the room into a stadium for a breathtaking almost-finale, getting the audience up on their feet and dancing in the aisles.

Cleverly using this moment to rehash her hits Proud Mary and Nutbush City Limits from earlier in the show, Tina misses a trick here by not dropping a couple of her unused megahits; one imagines What You Get is What You See, Steamy Windows, or Acid Queen would’ve gone down a treat with fans who, an impressive three hours in, were up and about and ready to keep going.

If Tina is the heart and soul of this musical, the incredible Ruva Ngwenya, who plays her, is the star of the night. Completely owning every moment, from the profoundly sad to Turner’s world-beating Best, her voice is simply incredible, and it doesn’t take any suspension of belief to see what made Turner such an icon. If you’re going to play Tina, go big.

Ultimately, Turner’s personal traumas and triumphs late in the first act, from overdosing to leaving Ike (and duly kicking him in the balls), pit this among the best musical events staged in Perth since COVID. Tears, laughter, dancing, colour, and some of the most memorable pop’n’soul hits of all time ensure this one will have fans old and new coming back for more.

HARVEY RAE