PNC Broadway’s ‘Tina—The Tina Turner Musical’ Opens at Benedum (Tues., 4/4/23)

TINA—THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL directed by Phyllida Lloyd from a book by Katori Hall, with Frank Ketelaar & Kees Prins. PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh Series. April 4 – 9.

‘We Don’t Need Another Hero’ unless it’s PNC Broadway’s ‘Tina – The Tina Turner Musical.’ (photo courtesy of the production and Pittsburgh Cultural Trust)

Jukebox musicals have become the bread and butter of Broadway, often formulaic stage biographies of musical artists whose life journey has brought them inordinate fame with equal amounts of sorrow and insecurity. Tina—The Tina Turner Musical presents a mostly true narrative which follows her earliest days singing in the Nutbush (Tennessee) Spring Hill Baptist Church to commanding the then-highest ticketed concert tour of any solo artist. Born Anna Mae Bullock, the youngest of three sisters, she discovered her calling when, in late-fifties St. Louis, she took the microphone during an intermission of Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm concert at the Manhattan Club. But “the rest is history” does not apply in this particularly insightful stage biography. Of course, all of Ike and Tina Turner’s hits fit in to inform their background and driving ambitions, as do Tina’s solo works when she stunned record producers and concert promoters worldwide with her over-the-top success with hits like “What’s Love Got to Do With It,”  “Proud Mary,” and “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome.)”  Like her life, Tina—The Tina Turner Musical is a high energy exposition of the spirit and soul of a true legend. Reserve promptly or find alternate ticket sources for the nearly-sold-out run of this show, presented as part of the PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh series. Benedum Center, 237 7th St., Cultural District. (C.P.O.)

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