‘TINA’: Adrienne Warren as Tina Turner. Photo: Manuel Harlan

TINA
Book by Katori Hall, Frank Ketelaar & Kees Rins
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd
Choreographed by Anthony Van Laast
Through July 20, 2019
Aldwych Theatre
Charing Cross Road
London, United Kingdom
(0845 200 7981), www.tinathemusical.com

By David NouNou

Tina Turner is a force of nature, a hurricane. There are very few artists where you just mention their first name and you see their entire portfolio appearing in your mind. Tina is among those superstars: Aretha, Barbra, Cher, Diana, Donna and Meryl (I threw her in just because she is my favorite actress of all time), just to name a few; no need to say their last name as it would be redundant and stating the obvious.

Tina the Musical is more than a jukebox musical about an artist and her song portfolio inserted into it to recapture nostalgia. Tina actually has a book that is logical and makes sense of the artist’s life. Of course their will be portions or parts that would be missing, that is the nature of a musical; you have to stay on course to hold the audience’s attention

Starting out in Nutbush, Tennessee, her birth place, singing in her father’s ministry, abusive father, deserted by her mother, living with her grandmother and savior, moving to St. Louis at 16 and reconnecting with her mother, marrying Ike and her tumultuous relationship with him, attempting suicide, from stardom to the depths of poverty and depression, going out on her own and rebuilding her career in the record industry and sold-out concerts around the world, to the supernova she is today. It is all here. There is an important aspect that is just mentioned as a blip, and that is her conversion to Buddhism. In fact, it was an integral part of her life; her faith in Buddhism was her salvation.

In addition, there are also her songs that are sung intact and not just snippets: “River Deep, Mountain High,” “Proud Mary,” “Nutbush,” “Let’s Stay Together,” “Private Dancer,” “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” and many more. What is unique here is that the songs come in sequence and are not randomly inserted for the sake of “keep the musical moving” as in the current misconceived Broadway production of Summer – The Donna Summer Musical which I’m sure will no doubt move to London in the near future. The Brits can’t get enough of songbook musicals.

As I stated earlier Tina, the singer, is bigger than life, so the performer that plays her has to capture that essence of Tina’s magnetism. It is not enough to just sing the songs well; you have to transform to be Tina. At the performance we attended, unfortunately the incredible Tony-nominated Adrienne Warren who portrays Tina was on holiday. Being familiar with Ms. Warren’s work, from seeing her in New York in Shuffle Along and Bring It On, I can only imagine the fiery charisma she brings to the character of Tina. At our performance, the role of Tina was played by Aisha Jawando. Credit is certainly due to Ms. Jawando for giving a good performance, singing all the songs well, and the high energy she emits. Unfortunately, she lacks the Tina sparkle that is so unique to Ms. Turner.

A cautionary word to our readers: In London, unlike New York, when a star, lead, or performer is not performing at that performance, there are no announcements, or inserts in the souvenir brochures (what we call Playbills in New York), so you have no idea of which actor is out. We found out about it accidentally as we were picking up our tickets. A big discredit to Ms. Warren, but we enjoyed the show regardless. We can’t wait for Tina to cross the Atlantic and land on Broadway with Ms. Warren as Tina.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published July 8, 2018
Reviewed at June 21, 2018 performance in London

‘TINA’: Adrienne Warren & cast. Photo: Manuel Harlan

‘TINA’: (left to right) Hannah Jay-Allen, Adrienne Warren, Perola Congo, Sia Kia as the Ikettes. Photo: Manual Harlan

‘TINA’: The cast. Photo: Manuel Harlan

‘TINA”: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith & Madeline Applah. Photo: Manuel Harlan

‘TINA’: Adrienne Warren & Jammy Kasongo. Photo: Manuel Harlan

‘TINA’: Adrienne Warren (center) & cast. Photo: Manuel Harlan

‘TINA”: Adrienne Warren & Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. Photo: Manuel Harlan

‘TINA’: Adrienne Warren & Lorna Gayle. Photo: Manuel Harlan

‘TINA’: Adrienne Warren. Photo: Manuel Harlan

‘TINA’: Adrienne Warren. Photo: Manuel Harlan

‘TINA’: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. Photo: Manuel Harlan

‘TINA’: Aisha Jawando. Photo: Manuel Harlan

‘TINA’: Jammy Kasongo. Photo: Manuel Harlan

‘TINA’: Baker Mukasa & Kit Esuruoso. Photo: Manuel Harlan

‘TINA’: Ryan O’Donnell. Photo: Manuel Harlan

‘TINA’: Gerard McCarthy. Photo: Manuel Harlan

‘TINA’: Jason Langley & Kayleigh McKnight. Photo: Manuel Harlan

The post ‘Tina’: Turner’s life & hits | London Theatre appeared first on StageZine.

CHANNELING A SANITIZED JANIS JOPLIN: Mary Bridget Davies as Janis Joplin. Photo: Joan Marcus

A NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLIN
Written and directed by Randy Johnson
Lyceum Theatre
149 West 45th Street
866-668-7285, http://anightwithjanisjoplin.com/

By Scott Harrah

There’s quite a story to tell about the late Janis Joplin, so it is frustrating indeed for anyone familiar with her to sit through the messy mash-up writer-director Randy Johnson has assembled here, with the outstanding Mary Bridget Davies bringing the tragic star back to life.

We watch and listen to a confusing array of the African-American female singers who influenced Ms. Joplin (Etta James, Odetta, Bessie Smith), interspersed with awkward, expository dialogue about the star’s down-home girlhood in Port Arthur, Texas, told while she sits in a chair and sips Southern Comfort. Much of the show covers “the blues” and cameo appearances from purported “blues” singers. Other than Bessie Smith, Odetta and The Chantels weren’t truly “blues” artists. In fact, it takes nearly 40 minutes of silly chatter in act one about “the blues” (from both Ms. Davies and the talented women playing the star’s heroines) before we hear a genuine Joplin classic, “Piece of My Heart.”  When Ms. Davies belts out the words, with her gravelly voice, she is more than a marvelous impersonator, but we feel none of the trademark Joplin “soul.”  Why? We are so bludgeoned by Randy Johnson’s scattershot narrative at this point that we don’t know what we’re seeing.  Is it a musical biography? Or is it a tribute concert of people impersonating soul singers, with Ms. Davies channeling Janis Joplin as the headliner?

This overstuffed show might have the makings of a fun 90-minute nostalgia fest in a small theater in the East Village, but as is, in two long acts, this doesn’t belong on Broadway. Other than her infamous cussing, Ms. Joplin’s tale has been so sanitized that it seems more like a bio-musical of Doris Day than a woman known for indulging in sex, drugs, and rock and roll. So much needs to be cut here, from pointless tales of Joplin going to the library as a kid, idolizing Hemingway and Fitzgerald, to imagining Nina Simone (played with panache by De’Adre Aziza), popping up in her bedroom to sing “Little Girl Blue.” There’s a house-raising finale at the end of act one, featuring Aretha Franklin (Allison Blackwell), Ms. Joplin and the “Joplinaires” singing “Spirit in the Dark,” but it’s unnecessary and says nothing. Why feature Aretha jamming with Janis when there were real-life highlights of the icon’s career, such as her appearances at the Monterrey Pop Festival and Woodstock? Or her famous interview on “The Dick Cavett Show” in 1970, months before her death?

Act two gives us some bona fide Joplin standards, from “Try Just a Little Bit Harder” to a spine-tingling, raw rendition of “Cry Baby.”  When Ms. Davies sings these classics, and the star’s only Number One hit, “Me and Bobby McGee,” one wonders why writer-director Randy Johnson chose to focus on so many numbers from legends that inspired Ms. Joplin, instead of just giving fans a shorter show that features her greatest original work. Ms. Joplin began performing in 1962, overdosed on heroin at age 27, and only had four years of major success, from 1966 to her death in 1970. A Night with Janis Joplin would work with much-needed trimming of all the filler.  Janis Joplin, in her short life, inspired (and some argue, defined) an entire generation, but she lived hard and fast, and her inimitable spirit has been captured far better in countless biographies, the 1974 documentary Janis, and even The Rose (which was loosely based on Ms. Joplin), starring Bette Midler.

“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose,” Janis Joplin once sang. Perhaps writer-director Randy Johnson took this notion too literally, for the liberties he takes with the material here are perplexing and never capture the essence of the real Janis Joplin.  She was a talented and complex woman indeed (not some psychedelic Pollyanna), and deserves a more honest stage homage than this.

A LITTLE PIECE OF HER ART: Mary Bridget Davies as Janis Joplin in ‘A Night with Janis Joplin.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

Tony Nominated for Best Musical Actress Mary Bridget Davies

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 17, 2013
Reviewed at press performance on October 16, 2013

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