Tina Turner musical's stars pay tribute to icon as show lands in Ireland
TINA the musical, , Directed by Phyllida Lloyd with a book by Katori Hall, Frank Ketelaar, and Kees Prins, CHOREOGRAPHER -ANTHONY VAN LAAST, SET & COSTUME DESIGNER - MARK THOMPSON, LIGHTING DESIGNER - BRUNO POET, PROJECTION DESIGNER - JEFF SUGG, HAIR, WIGS & MAKE UP DESIGNER - CAMPBELL YOUNG, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR - KATHERINE HARE, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATE CHOREOGRAPHER - SIMONE MISTRY-PALMER, Curve theatre, UK, Credit: Johan Persson/
TINA the musical, , Directed by Phyllida Lloyd with a book by Katori Hall, Frank Ketelaar, and Kees Prins, CHOREOGRAPHER -ANTHONY VAN LAAST, SET & COSTUME DESIGNER - MARK THOMPSON, LIGHTING DESIGNER - BRUNO POET, PROJECTION DESIGNER - JEFF SUGG, HAIR, WIGS & MAKE UP DESIGNER - CAMPBELL YOUNG, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR - KATHERINE HARE, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATE CHOREOGRAPHER - SIMONE MISTRY-PALMER, Curve theatre, UK, Credit: Johan Persson/
From humble beginnings in Nutbush, Tennessee, to her triumphant transformation into a multi-award-winning global superstar, Tina Turner didn't just break the rules, she rewrote them.
Born Anna Mae Bullock, Tina, who died in May 2023 at the age of 83, left behind an incredible legacy and a treasure trove of hits that will see her name live on for generations to come.
Not surprisingly there's Tina, The Tina Turner Musical, which opens at Dublin's Bord Gais Energy Theatre this coming week.
Set to the pulse-pounding soundtrack of her iconic hits, including The Best, What's Love Got To Do With It?, Private Dancer and River Deep, Mountain High, it's a real treat.
Elle Ma-Kinga N'Zuzi and Jochebel Ohene MacCarthy will share the iconic role of Tina Turner, alongside David King-Yombo as Ike Turner.
MacCarthy says she will never forget the morning she heard about Tina's death as she had starred as the pop legend in the Australian production of the Tina musical the previous night.
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. Photo: Johan Persson
She says: 'When I first performed this show, Tina was still alive…a week after we opened, she passed. I didn't know until I started receiving messages from people the next day telling me how sorry they were to hear the sad news. I was like, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa...'
'That night, the house was packed…people wanted to be there to pay their respects and show their gratitude. Having experienced doing the show with the potential for Tina to walk in the door at any moment, that night I experienced it with the potential of her presence being there… the emotion was phenomenal, a different level of performance, like an out of body experience.'
N'Zuzi says: 'My foster dad was a huge fan of Tina Turner, consequently, she was the first black artist I was introduced to as he had all her cassettes and CDs. I'd dance in front of the TV whenever she was on.'
As a child, N'Zuzi's party-piece was Proud Mary and by a strange twist it was the song that got her an initial role playing Tina.
She explains, 'I was in rock bands at the time and at several concerts I'd been asked to sing the likes of Proud Mary. I was working in Germany when the producers needed an alternate Tina and they emailed me. I thought, 'Why not?' So I went along and I got the job. It just happened by chance really.'
It was at the age of seven that MacCarthy first came across the name Tina Turner thanks to a singing birthday card she'd bought for her mum.
She laughs: 'That was the first time I ever came across her name… it was back in the day when you got these cards that, when opened, would sing this one song, Simply The Best, over and over again."
To their regret, neither N'Zuzi nor MacCarthy met the rock legend whose story they tell, the former missing the opportunity to do so by just a few months.
'Tina had visited the show a few months before I joined during a cast change,' she says. 'So half of the cast had met her, the other half, like me, had not.
'But I discovered that Tina loved Germany and that when she ran away from Ike, she hid in Stuttgart, just around the corner from our theatre there. Not many people are aware of that.
'In fact, while I was there, I went to a local recording studio to record some stuff and there, on the walls, were all these amazing photos of Tina that I'd never seen before.'
After Tina died MacCarthy set off on a pilgrimage to Switzerland to visit the star's home.
She adds: 'I went to her house and laid some flowers by her door. Unlike many huge stars who live in secluded communities, her house was by the road. Tina always wanted to be accessible.'
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