Tina Turner is simply the best.
“Tina,” the musical, however, is lacking.
The musical, on the Centennial Hall stage through Sunday, Oct. 8, tells the disturbing and triumphant story of the queen of rock ‘n’ roll.
It’s quite a story: Born Anna-Mae, she was abandoned by both her mother and abusive father, met Ike Turner when she was 17 and became part of his band. She married him and was constantly abused and humiliated by him. When she finally got the courage to run away, 16 years into her marriage, she struggled cleaning houses and doing lousy gigs.
Racism and misogyny were constants in her life. She was finally rediscovered and the release of her 1984 album “Private Dancer” launched a stratospheric return to the music world. Whew.
What this musical does is try to string all her songs together into a cohesive narrative covering those 28 years. That isn’t unusual for a jukebox musical, but the storyline here was just too thin and making the connection between tunes and dialogue was forced. As well, stuffing so much into a two-plus-hour musical meant rushing through and missing the depth of the story.
The first act of the musical is devoted to her childhood, Ike’s discovery of her, and the abuse she suffered at his hands throughout her marriage.
It was overwhelming that nearly every time they are together on stage during that act he is cheating on her or raises a hand and/or a voice to her. But that’s the thing about abuse: It is overwhelming and often women, including Tina, struggle to find an escape.
The role of Tina is so taxing that two women trade off playing her. On the Oct. 3 opening, it was Ari Groover’s turn.
Groover was an understudy in the Broadway production and won fans and fame when her spiky blond wig flew off during a performance and she just picked it up and threw it aside without missing a beat. It was as though that was planned.
Her Tina had the moves and the voice to carry off the role. Unfortunately, the sound at Centennial is so muddy that if you didn’t know the songs you would barely recognize them.
That muddiness carried over to the dialogue, too. It is a constant refrain: Centennial Hall has lousy sound, especially for rock musicals. One would think that the University of Arizona might make some improvements given how much money they surely make from Broadway in Tucson, which presents musicals at Centennial.
Tina didn’t have the only stand-out performance. Roderick Lawrence was not a well-liked character as Ike, but his smooth voice and dangerous charm impressed.
Roz White played Tina’s mother Zelma with a fierceness and a mean streak that both attracted and repelled.
Gerald M. Williams was Raymond, a member of Ike’s band and Tina’s love interest before Ike squashed that. He sang “Let’s Stay Together” with Tina and his voice was mesmerizing, hitting impossibly high notes and infusing the tune with massive feeling.
And Symphony King had just a few scenes as young Anna-Mae, but she commanded the stage when she was on it and has a voice that promises to be a force as she grows.
Even if the sound had been pristine, “Tina” would have had its faults. But at least we would have had the pleasure of the full impact of Tina’s music.
“Tina,” presented by Broadway in Tucson, continues through Sunday, Oct. 8 on the Centennial Hall stage, 1020 E. University Blvd. on the University of Arizona campus. Tickets are $40-$140 at broadwayintucson.com.
