Tina Turner is not my genre, and I don’t really know many of her songs, but that didn’t matter. It was great and really very clever to see Tina’s life through her songs - as opposed to a story constructed out of her songs.
And oh my goodness, Nkeki Obi-Melewe is outstanding. Her stamina, her power, her muscle tone, her acting, her voice. Wow! How is it that this is her West End debut and she only graduated from theatre school last year. She is phenomenal. She is onstage for practically the entire show, and not only does she show Tina’s musical growth, she shows the personal and emotional growth. The acting is so real; she must be absolutely exhausted, physically and emotionally, every night.
Everyone else pretty much pales in comparison to her, and I really didn’t like Ashley Zhangazha as Ike Turner. I suspect that is partly the point, and since I do not know him or about Ike, it’s difficult to comment on whether it was his acting. But I didn’t like his voice. Again, maybe Ike didn’t have a good voice, so perhaps it’s unfair to make any comment at all. He made me feel uncomfortable every time he was on stage though.
The set was clever, the costumes were great, but there’s only one star of this show.
It’s not necessarily a show that I would go and see again soon, but if the opportunity arose I would, and I think that people should just see it anyway because Obi-Melekwe is amazing. Ticket prices are a little prohibitive, but there are some good deals/decently priced tickets out there if you have a bit of a look around and are flexible with your dates.