The legend that was Tina Turner lives on in Naomi Rodgers’ spectacular star turn as the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, now bringing audiences to their feet at the Pantages.

Recent tributes to the late great Tina (and the 1993 biopic What’s Love Got To Do With It) have already acquainted audiences with her rags-to-riches story, one punctuated by an onslaught of blows inflicted on her by onetime husband/professional partner Ike Turner, so Tina: The Tina Turner Musical doesn’t break much new ground where her bio is concerned.

What differentiates the 2019 Broadway hit from the Angela Bassett starrer is the ingenious way it integrates a superstar’s greatest hits into the events that shaped her superstardom, some of them sung musical theater-style in place of dialog.

For instance, when a young Tina (then Anna Mae Bullock) leaves her beloved grandmother to join her mother and sister in St. Louis, Gran and granddaughter duet a heartrending “Don’t Turn Around,” and later when saxophonist boyfriend Raymond informs Tina that it’s time for them to end their love affair, they duet “Let’s Stay Together.”

Other Tina Turner hits get performed as part of a club, concert, or recording studio set, all of the above adding up to a collection of tunes so instantly recognizable, we are already primed to lip-sync along.

Unlike the higher concept Jersey Boys, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical (book by Katori Hall with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins) opts for a more or less by-the-numbers, chronological approach to Tina’s life story.

What sets Tina: The Musical apart from the many bio-musicals before it is Tina herself, and in leading lady Rodgers (a mere four years out of AMDA New York), it has found a performance dynamo more than capable of stepping into Tina Turner’s stiletto heels (or those worn by Tony winner Adrienne Warner before her).

As actress, as singer, as dancer, the indefatigable Rodgers dazzles throughout the show’s two-hour forty-five-minute running time in a role that must surely be one of the most taxing in musical theater history.

Under Phillida Lloyd’s dynamic direction, Rodgers sings, dances, rages, smolders, and takes and gives back so many slaps and punches, it’s no wonder she alternates in this most physically and vocally exhausting of roles with Zurin Villanueva (who I’m told is pretty darned dazzling herself).

Roderick Lawrence hits all the hiss-worthy notes as Ike, and his knock-down-drag-outs with Rodgers are one of the reasons Sordelet Inc.’s fight direction could easily have scored Tina: The Tina Turner musical a 13th Tony nomination had there been a award category for it.

Carla R. Stewart (as Gram Georgeanna), Roz White (as Tina’s mother Zelma), Parris Lewis (as her older sister Alline), and Gerard M. Williams (as romantic interest Raymond) give powerful supporting performances, and Ayvah Johnson is a preteen vocal stunner as the young Anna Mae.

Colorful featured turns are delivered by Max Falls (Erwin Bach), Lael Van Keuren (Rhonda), Zachary Freier-Harrison (Roger Davies), Geoffrey Kidwell (Phil Spector/Terry Britten), fight captain Chris Stevens (Martyn Ware), Kristopher Stanley Ward (Richard Bullock), Andre Hinds and Antonio Beverly (Tina’s sons Craig and Ronnie), and Lillian Charles (Young Alline, Young Craig).

Aliyah Caldwell, Reyna Guerra, Takia Hopson, and Parris Lewis are high-energy balls of fire as the Ikettes, with Gracie Phillips and Nicole Powell completing the hardest working ensemble in town, and never more so than when executing Anthony Van Laast’s pizzazzy Tony-nominated choreography, in particular Tina and the Ikettes’ hundred-miles-per-hour moves.

Mark Thompson’s costumes range from Tennessee church wear to Vegas-style glitz, and though his scenic design serves mainly to display Jeff Suggs sensational projected backdrops, a major reason for Tina’s seamless scene changes and remarkably swift pace.

Bruno Poet’s flashy lighting, Campbell Young Associates’ fabulous hair, wig, and makeup designs, and Nevin Steinberg’s rock concert-ready sound design earn their own cheers too as do music director-conductor Anne Shuttlesworth and the show’s occasionally onstage band.

Sharika Niles is associate director and Janet Rothermel is associate choreographer.

Casting is by The Telsey Office and Patrick Goodwin CSA. Daelyanna Kelly Benson and Brianna Cameron are understudies. Karen Burthwright, Gordia Hayes, Nia Nelson-Williams, Terance Reddick, dance captain Shari Washington Rhone, dance captain Jacob Roberts-Miller and assistant fight captain Jeff Sullivan are swings.

Larry Smiglewski is production stage manager.

Tributes have abounded since the electrifying Tina Turner left this earth less than a month ago, none of them more stirring and heartfelt than the musical she herself had a hand in crafting. Like the woman who inspired it, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical puts on a damn good show.

Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles.
www.broadwayla.org

–Steven Stanley
June 14, 2023
Photos: Matthew Murphy, Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

Tags: Broadway In Hollywood, Katori Hall, Los Angeles Theater Review, Pantages Theatre, Tina Turner