Premiered in 2018 on the West End, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical has landed in Sydney at the Theatre Royal. Starring Ruva Ngwenya as Tina Turner and Tim Omaji as Ike Turner, the story of Turner, the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll”, comes to life with hit after hit in the jukebox musical.
The production is a retelling of Turner’s life and career in a way that she says is “not about [Tina’s] stardom,” but about the “journey that [she] took to get there.” With themes such as racism, domestic violence, substance abuse and suicide, it is surprising how such a critically acclaimed play is able to successfully handle these motifs through energetic and captivating musical numbers. And yet somehow, it works.
The structure of Tina is cyclical. We start with a peak at the grandeur of Tina as a success, watching her preparing to go on stage. Before Tina makes it up to the stage, Young Tina brings us back to the start. As we move through the show, the audience is taken back to where we start to finally go beyond. In this way we see how Tina Turner really comes to shine — through the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Ruva Ngwenya, playing Tina Turner, is beguiling to say the least. Between slippery costume changes and constant dance numbers, Ngwenya handles everything gracefully — powerful from beginning to end. Her vocals hook the audience from the beginning, and her movements are swift and dynamic, well deserving of the audience’s standing ovation received at the end.
Similarly, despite his short role as Raymon Hill, Rishab Kern masters his vocally challenging number ‘Let’s Stay Together’. The audience woo’d, cheered and validated his vocal runs through head shakes and stank faces. Kern’s innocent and love-stricken portrayal of Raymon filled us with desperation and a hope for his return and reuniting with Turner that never comes.
Ike Turner, played by Tim Omaji, who many of us know as Timomatic with his hit single ‘Set it Off’, successfully plays the role of an intense, often detested character. Omaji was able to garner emotional reactions from the audience, who would often vociferate any of his wrong doings on stage or cheer when receiving a taste of his own medicine. Despite the audience’s celebration of his downfall, Omaji was met with rounds of applause during curtain call because of his ability to collectively move the audience to dislike his character.
From moving two separate scenes in and out of focus from the audience’s perspective to assisting the movement of props off stage, the turntable was central to the show. It was most effectively utilised during the ‘Private Dancer’ number, a sequence that has since been so memorable with the use of chairs and dancers rotating inside whilst Ngwenya dominates the centre stage.
Despite the glamour of costumes and energetic musical sequences, the LED screen at times became distracting. Certain transitions and graphics felt clunky and out of place in comparison to the smoothness and ease of onstage cast and prop movement. The LED screen was at its strongest when it enhanced the rest of the set. The set included large frames which left different sized rectangles available as they were raised and lowered. This allowed the stage to feel morphed into varying sizes like Turner’s bedroom or sold out arena throughout the show.
Ten-year-old Amara Kavaliku shines playing young Tina Turner, her constant smile and spirit brings all eyes on her as she glides across the stage. Kavaliku has a stage presence that challenges her older counterparts. Especially memorable moments were when she comes on stage at the end comforting older Turner before she takes the stage playing her biggest arena in her career yet, and joining Ngewnya during the first encore.
The audience were definitely a demographic that had grown up listening to Turner’s hit singles and watched her career milestones acting in the 1985 film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, playing the 1993 National Rugby League grand final and especially imprisoned by the cultural impact in the 80s from her song ‘Nutbush City Limits’. Even then, as two audience members who admittedly didn’t know that much about Tina, the musical introduces you to everything you need to know to enjoy it as much as anyone else. The audience were lively, adding to the energy of the show especially during curtain call and the final two encore’s, with many singing, dancing, and grooving whilst delivering a standing ovation.
It was incredibly refreshing and gratifying to see a predominantly BIPOC cast take over and own the stage, especially when Australia’s musical theatre scene is so overwhelmingly white. Musicals that have played in Sydney such as Hamilton and Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, pave the way and give hope for more culturally diverse talents gracing Australia’s live stages in the present and near future.
TINA: The Tina Turner Musical will be performing at Theatre Royal until the 22nd of October.
