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Review: Tina Turner musical in Costa Mesa fails to capture late star’s greatness

July 12, 2023

Of the many qualities associated with the astonishing life and pop music career of Tina Turner — the darkest of lows, the most empowering of highs — ambivalence wouldn’t seem anywhere on the list.

Yet the oddly suppressed production of “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” which opened Tuesday at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, is disengaging during much of its 2 hours, 40 minutes.

Tina survived a hardscrabble early life of talent under assault from marital toxicity and violence. It was followed by a professional rebirth and liberating redemption as a rock icon.

And while this posthumous mounting —the star herself died at 83 in May — isn’t required to be a cathartic musical homage, one could hope for at least a memorable showcase of her extraordinary talent.

Instead, one leaves this show wanting not more, but perhaps something different.

Zurin Villanueva stars as Tina Turner in “Tina — The Tina Turner Musical,” playing at Segerstrom Center for the Arts through July 23. (Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade)

Zurin Villanueva stars as Tina Turner and Ann Nesby is Gran Georgeanna in “Tina — The Tina Turner Musical.” (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)

Zurin Villanueva, center, stars as Tina Turner and Garrett Turner, right, with guitar, is Ike Turner in “Tina — The Tina Turner Musical.” (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)

Zurin Villanueva as Tina Turner performs the song “Higher” in “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical.” (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)

Zurin Villanueva stars as Tina Turner and Garrett Turner is Ike Turner in “Tina — The Tina Turner Musical,” at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts through July 23. (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)

Ayvah Johnson, right, stars as Young Anna-Mae in a scene from “Tina — The Tina Turner Musical,” playing at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts through July 23. (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)

Zurin Villanueva, center, stars as Tina Turner in “Tina — The Tina Turner Musical,” at Segerstrom Center for the Arts through Jully 23. (Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)

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This isn’t just due to the grim challenges in Tina’s existence — unflinchingly and graphically on display with facial slaps and punches starting in the opening scene — but an uneasy, and ultimately dysfunctional fit between sobering drama and jukebox musical.

An audience member might even pause rooting for Tina versus evil Svengali/physically abusive husband Ike Turner and, instead, be simply antsy for the show itself to better engage.

(Sneak preview: the production offers an exhilarating encore, so if you also get a bit antsy, hang in there. A truth-in-advertising blurb could read: “Come for the show but stay for the concert.”).

I’ve seen the production on Broadway, and this tonal disconnect was already in place before the show hit the road. In fact, some questionable directorial choices likely stem from the show’s 2018 debut in London.

Here’s an unlikely culprit: the murky lighting palette throughout the show tamping down the energy of scene after scene throughout.

With minimal props and not especially notable costumes, the primary visuals on display are hardly even on display, almost everything being lit in dank, deep reds, blues, greens and purples.

You’ll be wide-eyed at Tina’s woes, but you also may have to squint a bit to see them. (This dramatically improves in that must-see encore).

Another frustration is with arrangements of Turner’s familiar hit songs that one wants and expects to pay off, but which are arranged to service the necessarily tough-edged storyline.

For instance, on opening night, there was an audible murmur of excited anticipation through the hall at hearing the slow, opening chords of Ike and Tina’s fabled version of “Proud Mary.”

But as orchestrated here to fit plot demands — Ike’s continued, first-act abuse of Tina — the number just tails away, none of the feverish, building pace of rhythm and horns that established the performance in pop music lore.

(Ummm, again, did I mention? Stay for that encore.)

Contrasting with these repeated disconnects is the one famed recording — “River Deep-Mountain High” — that works wonderfully well for song and story supporting each other.

In the scene, ‘60s pop producer Phil Spector — possibly the worst real-life pop Svengali of ‘em all, he died in prison in 2021 for murdering an actress — kicks Ike out of the studio during the recording.

Now we see and understand who Tina, unshackled from Ike for the first time, might be as an artist and a person. More importantly, Tina sees herself.

Possibilities, for her, and briefly for the show, soar.

A positive note is that the road production’s problems aren’t due to the talent on display in Costa Mesa.

As one of two actresses rotating as Tina, Zurin Villanueva on opening night had both the husky vocal gravel instantly associated with the singer’s later recordings and appearances, as well as the acting skills to represent both her early-life emotional buoyancy and ultimate survival.

If her moves don’t have the vibrant and organic shimmy one associates from video of the young, real-life Tina, Villanueva’s vocals and acting take us where the show needs her to go.

Roderick Lawrence achieves the unenviable chore of making Ike into not a likable person, but perhaps a recognizable one.

Lawrence effectively drapes Ike through his coats of many unpleasantries, including egotist, neurotic self-pitying narcissist, druggie flame out and, the character’s through line, intolerable jerk.

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A captivating, if fleeting, performance comes from Ayvah Johnson, the child actor playing young Turner under her given name, Anna-Mae Bullock.

A veteran of the Broadway staging, Johnson has a voice ringing full and true in her two numbers, “Nutbush City Limits” early on, and then “We Don’t Need Another Hero” near the end. These earned her the opening evening’s biggest curtain call cheer.

Tina’s greatest second act hit, which rebooted her professional existence and enshrined her career and ultimate life the rest of the way, was, of course, “What’s Love Got to Do with It?”

Forget about love, just liking this show would be enough.

‘Tina: The Tina Turner Musical’

Rating: 2 ½ stars.

When: Through July 23: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays

Where: Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

Tickets: $29-$119

Information: 949-556-2787; scfta.org

Orange County Register

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Review: Tina Turner musical in Costa Mesa fails to capture late star’s greatness

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