'The Tina Turner Musical is SIMPLY THE BEST': New theatre show gets rave reviews across the board following opening night
The new Tina Turner show opened to rave reviews across the board on Tuesday night, with the iconic singer herself watching from the audience.
Phyllida Lloyd's musical, being shown at London's Aldwych theatre shows performer Adrienne Warren take on the lead role of Tina, who is now aged 78.
The story follows Anna-Mae Bullock, Tina's birth name, and her rise to the top from humble beginnings in Tennessee.
Proud Mary: The new Tina Turner show opened to rave reviews on Tuesday night, with the iconic singer watching Adrienne Warren (pictured) play her at London's Aldwych theatre
Exciting: The story follows Anna-Mae Bullock, Tina's birth name, and her rise to the top from humble beginnings in Tennessee, (pictured left, Tina, right, Adrienne)
When she was a teen, her grandmother sent her to rejoin her estranged mother and sister in St Louis.
It was there she met singer Ike Turner, who would become her husband of 16 years and musical partner.
Yet their relationship was famously fraught with troubles and was the basis for her movie What’s Love Got to Do with It?
Story to tell: When she was a teen, Tina's grandmother sent her to rejoin her estranged mother and sister in St Louis (the star pictured with Adrienne)
Tales: It was there she met singer Ike Turner, who would become her husband of 16 years and musical partner, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith plays Ike in the musical (right)
Ike told PEOPLE in 1990: 'All the fights Tina and I had were about her being sad about something.
'I get real emotional if you’re worrying and don’t tell me what it is. Then I can’t think about nothing else. So I’d slap her or something like that.'
They split in the Seventies and Ike passed away aged 76 in 2007.
TINA TURNER: THE MUSICAL - WHAT DO THE CRITICS SAY?
Quentin Letts, Daily Mail
Rating: 
'Any danger of the show becoming too gloopy is averted when [Tina] is whisked off to London by a new manager and the story receives a welcome dose of British humour – and Tina meets a new love interest.
A strong band does well to be heard over Miss Warren's amazing voice. With Private Dancer she simply becomes Tina in entirety. 'I may be jumpin' at the sun but I got long legs,' she says. And even though she is short, we believe her.
Michael Billington, The Guardian
Rating: 
The tricky role is that of Ike, and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith skilfully counters his monstrosity by suggesting that he never got his due as a pre-Elvis rock’n’roll pioneer and that he was a product of a culture that encouraged male swagger: you don’t like Ike but you begin to understand him. That, however, is the mark of a production by Phyllida Lloyd that is both intelligent and consistently good to look at. Mark Thompson’s design uses projections to create a whirling panorama of America, Bruno Poet’s lighting evokes the empurpled skies of Tennessee and the softer registers of a Monet-like Thames and, not least, there is the choreography of Anthony van Laast, which ensures the show is in perpetual motion. As bio-musicals go, this is as good as it gets.
Tim Bano, The Stage
Rating:
Exquisitely cast in the role is Warren in her West End debut: she has the perfect poise and the high-heeled stagger, the straight back and the slightly-inward-pointing knees. She has the huge smile and ferocious charm. She has that impossible velocity when she dances, recreating iconic moves and routines with absolute ease. She has the slight rasp at the edge of her voice, which can draw down into quietness and tenderness or open wide into pure, belting power... How she doesn’t collapse with exhaustion before the curtain is a miracle.
Will Longman, London Theatre
Rating:
It’s everything you expected, executed well and packs in a few surprises. Simply the Best? If you’re a Tina fan, it’ll definitely be pretty close.
According to Daily Mail's Quentin Letts, the show begins with a lowish-key Nutbush City Limits.
Then oddball record producer Phil Spector spots Tina's potential and she records River Deep, Mountain High.
Letts reports: 'Any danger of the show becoming too gloopy is averted when she is whisked off to London by a new manager and the story receives a welcome dose of British humour – and Tina meets a new love interest.
'Erwin Bach went on to become her husband (and he was alongside her in the theatre on the night).
'During the love scenes, the audience whooped and went "corrr!" Wonderfully embarrassing for the star couple!
'A strong band does well to be heard over Miss Warren's amazing voice. With Private Dancer she simply becomes Tina in entirety. "I may be jumpin' at the sun but I got long legs," she says. And even though she is short, we believe her.
Her rock: Erwin Bach (left) went on to become her husband and he was alongside her in the theatre on the night
Iconic: Daily Mail's Quentin Letts said: 'A strong band does well to be heard over Miss Warren's amazing voice'
Tina reviewed the show herself, telling BBC: 'Well first of all, it's difficult to see someone else do what we did for 40 years. I'm a perfectionist, so I look a little bit critically.
'But when I look and see it done so well, I feel proud.
'And I feel like I'm sending someone - sorry I'm getting emotional - I'm really sending someone out that's going to do a good job and make me proud.'
What a moment for her: Adrienne appeared thrilled to be meeting Tina
Most watched News videos
- New video shows Epstein laughing and chasing young women
- Epstein describes himself as a 'tier one' sexual predator
- Buddhist monks in Thailand caught with a stash of porn
- Sarah Ferguson 'took Princesses' to see Epstein after prison
- Jenna Bush Hager in tears over disappearance of Nancy Guthrie
- Skier dressed as Chewbacca brutally beaten in mass brawl
- Forth Bridge fireball fall into village streets
- China unveils 'Star Wars' warship that can deploy unmanned jets
- Inside London's terrifying crimewave as gangs target high end stores
- Amazon driver's furious rant about deliveries captured on ring camera
- British Airways passengers turn flight into a church service
- Shock footage of civil unrest in remote community of Wadeye
