Is a feelgood jukebox musical the absolute best medium to tell a story about domestic abuse? Put crudely, that is the problem at the heart of big-budget global premiere...Don’t get me wrong: it’s an entertaining night, brilliantly performed.
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What a pity, then, that this musical never fully sparks into life...Yet the material surprisingly lacks rigour, too often staying in soft-focus when a more forensic examination is required...
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Despite the show’s creative pedigree, with Mamma Mia! director Phyllida Lloyd at the helm and a book by The Mountain-top writer Katori Hall, nothing about the production is particularly interesting or innovative. It’s a standard bio-musical...
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Born in the USA, made in England. That’s the thesis of this slickly choreographed, beautifully designed and roof-raisingly well-sung bio-musical about Tina Turner...
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Phyllida Lloyd’s musical is a heady celebration of triumph over adversity...As bio-musicals go, this is as good as it gets.
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Katori Hall's book is too brisk...Even folk who are inclined to be sniffy about jukebox musicals will be overwhelmed by this one. It has everything going for it.
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Simply the best way to tell the story of Tina Turner...I thought I knew Tina’s story but, after she leaves Ike, it gets even more interesting. This musical tells it like it is.
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"The better pop/rock biomusicals all have substantial narratives; those without are merely concerts performed by impersonators...I’ve never seen a more one-sided portrait in a show like this. Lloyd, too, moves the action along and intercuts it fluidly, but spends the final phase of the show assiduously building up to a nakedly adulatory climax and concert-style encore."
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