Tina: Love’s Got Everything to Do With It by Moriah Weiss

 Tina: Love’s Got Everything to Do With It

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical is a heart-pounding, thoroughly inspiring recount of the life of the prolific rock n’ roll trailblazer, Tina Turner, as she breaks through the barriers of racism, sexism, and ageism to completely reshape the music genre. The touring Broadway production at the Minnesota Orpheum brought Tina’s powerful voice and unapologetic story brilliantly to the stage, bringing the whole audience to their feet with her inspiring music and reclamation of her identity.

Packing an entire lifetime—one of such a pioneering music star, at that—into two and a half short hours is no easy feat. However, the costume and tech designers took the challenge head-on, with seamless set changes and true-to-the-era costumes as Tina’s career progressed. These elements drew the audience into moments in Tina's life, from her humble upbringing to the light-infused stage in her showstopping live performances, giving Tina the dazzling presentation she deserves.

Parris Lewis gave the performance of a lifetime as the legendary Tina Turner. Her voice was one of sheer power, and at no point did she hold back, particularly prominent in numbers like “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” and the golden finale, “The Best.” But in addition to this, Lewis portrayed her relationships with other characters with grace and passion, especially in emotionally charged scenes with Ike Turner (Garrett Turner) and shyer scenes with Erwin Bach (Max Falls). All in all, she expertly portrayed the ultimate journey of discovering herself and Tina’s place in the world of music. Tina was told to sing to the god inside herself; I believe she inspired the god inside each member of the audience during this performance.

Many others in the cast helped (or perhaps hindered) Tina’s path to success. Nia Nelson-Williams was a perfectly encouraging but grounding sister, Alline. Ann Nesby as Gran Georgeanna brought the support and heart Tina looked for from her family; she was Tina’s rock in difficult times and Nesby captured this role with a perfect grandmotherly spirit. Of course, Garrett Turner was a terrifying and amazingly manipulative Ike Turner, whose acting made the audience’s stomachs clench in anticipation of what he would do next. These were just a few of a plethora of impressive performances.

It’s unfortunate that much of the original cast was unable to perform for opening night, but no one would be able to tell that much of the cast were understudies. They brought mounds of energy and enthusiasm right up until the end, even with two bonus numbers. The cast sought out connections with each other onstage, but ultimately bridged the gap to the audience, pulling at their heartstrings and singing to their souls. “We Don’t Need Another Hero” when Tina Turner is around!