TINA – The Tina Turner Musical

Revealing the life, and the difficult road to becoming the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll, TINA – The Tina Turner Musical! A brand-new musical featuring Tina Turner’s much-loved songs as well as her humble beginnings in Nutbush, Tennessee to her transformation into a global Rock ‘n Roll icon, defining the bounds of racism, sexism, and ageism, this is a celebration of resilience and an inspiration of triumph over adversity. TINA – The Tina Turner Musical is presented in association with Tina Turner herself, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Katori Hall and directed by the internationally acclaimed Phyllida Lloyd. Book your tickets for TINA at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis now!

Tina Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939, in the town of Nutbush, Tennessee. Rising to prominence as the lead singer of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, the musicals first half focuses on this difficult period of her life as her mother walks out with her elder sister leaving Tina to be raised by her grandmother. She moves to St Louis and joins Ike Turner’s band where he gives her the stage name Tina Turner, and battles with a difficult and abusive relationship with Ike.

The second half of the show reveals a comeback story like no other, beginning in 1980s, Turner launched the 1984 multi-platinum album, Private Dancer, containing the hit song “What’s Love Got to Do with It”, winning the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and becoming her first and only number 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. At age 44, she was the oldest female solo artist to top the Hot 100 and firmly planted her flag as the global Queen of Rock n’ Roll, and one of the world’s best-selling artists of all time. Tina Turner has won 12 Grammy Awards, which include 8 competitive awards, 3 Grammy Hall of Fame awards, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Her live shows have been seen by millions, with more concert tickets sold than any other solo performer in music history. She is the first black artist and first female to be on the cover of Rolling Stone, with the magazine ranking her among the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. A star on both the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the St. Louis Walk of Fame, and she inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with Ike Turner in 1991, in 2005 she received the Kennedy Center Honors and Women of the Year award, and finally in 2021, for a second time Tina Turner was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but this time as a solo artist.

“Turner merged sound and movement at a critical turning point in rock history, navigating and reflecting back the technological innovations of a new pop-music era in the 60s and 70s. She catapulted herself to the forefront of a musical revolution that had long marginalized and overlooked the pioneering contributions of African American women and then remade herself again at an age when most pop musicians were hitting the oldies circuit. Turner’s musical character has always been a charged combination of mystery as well as light, melancholy mixed with a ferocious vitality that often flirted with danger.” – Daphne A. Brooks, The Guardian.

Workshopped in 2016 with Tina Turner herself, TINA – The Tina Turner Musical has a creative team consisting of Katori Hall, with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins as writers of the book, Phyllida Lloyd as the director, Mark Thompson as set and costume designer, Anthony van Laast as choreographer and Nicholas Skilbeck as musical supervisor. Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins wrote the early draft of the book, with Katori Hall taking over partway through development.

The musical premiered on London’s West End in March 2018, at the Aldwych Theatre and was nominated for three Laurence Olivier Awards, including Best Musical, eventually winning Best Actor in 2019. TINA then moved to Broadway, opening in October 2019 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre where it was nominated for 12 Tony Awards, and winning Best Performance by a Leading Actress in 2020.

Review for the Hollywood Reporter, by David Rooney

“If you aim to embody the indomitable spirit of a beloved subject named not once but twice in the title of her celebratory bio-musical, you better be up to the challenge. Adrienne Warren has what it takes, and then some – the powerhouse voice, the jackhammer legs, the wild dance moves, and above all, the heart – to carry Tina: The Tina Turner Musical across the rough patches of its clunky book and uneven direction. This grit-and-glitter production is neither the best nor the worst (RIP, Donna Summer) of the ongoing wave of musical biographies, but the sensational lead performance that drives pretty much every scene is not to be missed.”

Hollywood Reporter

Experience Tina Turner’s triumphant story live on Broadway at the exhilarating, undeniable mega hit: TINA – THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL.

Celebrate the unstoppable woman that dared to dream fiercely, shatter barriers, and conquer the world—against all odds. Set to the pulse-pounding soundtrack of her most beloved hits, this electrifying sensation will send you soaring to the rafters.

“ROOF-RAISING! IT HITS THE RAFTERS. THIS IS TINA AS WE KNOW AND ADORE HER.”- Variety

“I’VE RARELY HEARD AN AUDIENCE WITH THIS MIGHTY A ROAR.” – THE NEW YORK TIMES

“It’s irresistibly uplifting.” – The Hollywood Reporter

“Euphoric, moving, and totally joyous.” – People Magazine

“Prepare to be ecstatically blown away. It’s a miracle the roof hasn’t taken flight to space.” – The Daily Beast