Tina: The Tina Turner Musical gets ready to hit the road!

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical West End production image. Photo Manuel Harlan

Telling the story of the extraordinary life and career of a music icon, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical is set to embark on its first UK and Ireland tour in 2025. Opening at Leicester’s Curve Theatre in March, it will visit towns and cities across the country, including in Belfast, Dublin, Norwich, Sunderland and Nottingham’s Theatre Royal, a venue fit for the Queen of rock and roll.

Launching in London, a stone’s throw from the Aldwych Theatre where Tina has been delighting West End audiences since 2018, producer Tali Pelman officially announced the tour, giving an insight into the show’s development and its enduring appeal.

How did Tina: The Musical come to be written?

Ten years ago, Tali went to visit Tina at her beautiful home in Zurich. Tina was beautiful and radiant and said that they weren’t going to do the show.  Over the course of the evening they had extensive conversations and by 2 am the no had turned into a yes!

Tina’s change of heart was prompted by two things. Firstly, Tali promised that the show would not gloss over the struggles Tina had overcome in her life, portraying everything honestly which would include the people who were important to her story, like her mother and Ike Turner. And secondly, Tina would not be defined by her marriage to Ike, in which she was subject to years of domestic abuse. There’s an assumption that as soon as she left him, she became the rock and roll sensation that we think of today, immediately catapulting to fame and glory. The reality was that in 1980s America, as a black woman, aged nearly 40, she had to start from scratch. It was actually in the UK that Tina was able to reinvent herself.

Speaking to Tina, it dawned on Tali that the only writer she wanted to work with to tell this story was Katori Hall. Her writing is not only incredibly bold, but also wholly irreverent and very funny, just like Tina herself.

Then Phyllidia Lloyd came on board, a director who really knows how to get under the skin of women and what influences the choices that they make.

At an early table read in New York, the producers worked with actors who didn’t sing to tell the story, along with the brilliant Adrienne Warren playing Tina. She went at the songs full belt and it was immediately clear that the songs truly tell Tina’s story. Although she did not write the majority of her songs, her choices and selections were clearly all made for a reason and Tina’s voice shines through.

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical West End production image. Photo Matt Crockett

Why should people come and see Tina: The Musical?

Stepping into London’s Aldwych Theatre on a rainy afternoon, I was transported to Nutbush Tennessee, Las Vegas, a nightclub in New York, Abbey Road Studios in London and then finally to a glittering stadium in Brazil. With a phenomenal cast led by Karis Anderson as Tina, the show tells Tina’s story the way she wanted, not shying away from the horrific abuse she suffered at the hands of husband Ike and the racial discrimination she experienced as a black woman trying to succeed in an industry that shamefully dismissed her because of her skin colour. 

However, it is also full of joy and hope as Tina’s strength and determination underpins everything that she does in order to succeed for herself and for her family. And then there’s the music. Tina Turner’s songs have inspired generations and Anderson has perfectly mastered her distinctive vocal tone, belting out the hits with power and passion. It’s the perfect soundtrack to tell the story of this incredible woman. As Tina’s story unfolds, the performances are heart-breaking at times, but also life affirming – the actors bringing honesty and authenticity to their portrayals of these real people.

As the show ends, “Tina” invites the audience to stand up, dance and join in. Nobody has to be asked twice. It’s a joyful celebration of an absolute rock and roll goddess.

Go and see Tina: The Musical – it’s thought-provoking and hugely entertaining, and you’ll leave the theatre absolutely buzzing and feeling as if you really have been in the presence of one of the greats.

Read more: A full review of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical UK & Ireland tour!

This tour is the first new production that has been staged since Tina passed away in May 2023.

Nobody knew about touring like Tina Turner did, she’d been doing it since she was 17 and loved the ambition, the scale and the discipline involved. But most of all Tina loved the connections she could make with audiences, so she’d be so thrilled that her story is going to be taking to the road to reach new audiences across the UK and Ireland.

Tour dates, with more venues still to be announced, can be found at https://tinathemusical.com/uktour/