Review: TINA: The Tina Turner Musical at Lyceum Sheffield

“…a fantastic piece of theatre…bold, modern and simply ‘The Best’…”

TINA: The Tina Turner Musical by Katori Hall, Lyceum Sheffield

By Sophie Dodworth

Bursting onto the Lyceum stage this week is the longest-running show from the West End’s Aldwych Theatre: TINA – The Tina Turner Musical. It has stopped off on its first-ever UK and Ireland tour and you would be crazy to miss out.

Tina Turner is one of the most well-known musicians of the last few generations. Almost everybody knows her music and famous songs, even if they are not aware of her personal story. As well as her famous toe-tappers, she also has an extremely emotional life story, and many have learned of this either through her films, interviews or autobiographies. She has one of the most moving stories of pain, abuse and suffering. But it is also a story of survival too and, learning of her tale, you become enthralled and then overjoyed at how she managed to pull through, smash the hell out of her obstacles and deliver such a solid career – for herself and her family.  

Following her poor beginnings in Nutbush, Anna-Mae became Tina Turner when she met Ike Turner. From the minute he met her, he earmarked her as his way to be more successful. Witnessing their relationship turn sour is quite uncomfortable viewing at times, but this just proves how well the actors fare in the retelling of this tale. Relief is felt throughout the audience when Tina breaks free from Ike, and then really soars into her global success with a new management team, smash hits, number ones and a new love interest.

The set is so simple, probably the simplest you will see of such a huge touring production but works so well. For the most part, there is no set, as such. The stage is almost empty at times, apart from props, but the large screen at the back, changing frequently (digitally) to set the scene works perfectly, enabling so many different locations to be visualised as you go on the journey with Tina, through the vast number of places she lived, toured and visited. The use of the screen is so effective when it’s either quite empty or plain and the talented cast are using their silhouettes to create such wonderful shapes with their bodies to deliver visual splendour.

The cast and crew are all incredibly talented. Not a weak link to be seen. The lead for this performance was Elle Ma-Kinga N’Zuzi and she was Tina personified – what a fantastic actress she is. Those legs and arm moves were just perfectly executed. Some beautiful vocals alongside her acting came from the wonderful Letitia Hector playing Zelma Bullock, especially in her rendition of It’s Gonna Work Out Fine. Ike Turner is played by the talented David King-Yombo, who does a fantastic job of making you hate him for the way he treated his spouse.

This show doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to portraying the horrendous racism of the times. You really feel the raw reality of the awful abuse and suffering that Black people had to endure through back then. It is upsetting at times with lots of use of the ‘N’ word, which is rather unpleasant…but maybe this is the reaction that the production team wanted. We must never forget those times.

The dedicated Tina fans in the crowd were hungry to hear her hits, and they were not disappointed! Many of Turner’s most famous hits were performed during this show, including: Let’s Stay Together, Private Dancer, Proud Mary, Nutbush City Limits and What’s Love Got To Do With It. There were some superb musical moments, including the mini-concert at the end – what a finish!

Do not miss this one. Fan of Tina or not, this is a fantastic piece of theatre for any theatre lover: bold, modern and simply ‘The Best’.

TINA: The Tina Turner Musical plays at Lyceum Sheffield until Saturday 20 September. Tickets are available here.

Sophie Dodworth is an experienced theatre reviewer. Prior to joining NAR she has written reviews for multiple review sites including The Reviews Hub, and sees reviewing as a lovely break from being a busy mum. Sophie has herself tread the boards, working full time as a professional singer many years ago and more recently in amateur productions.