Review: Tina: The Tina Turner Musical At The Wales Millennium Centre
Throughout my life I’ve sung along to Tina Turner’s songs. The anthems, the huge, instantly recognisable choruses, but watching Tina in Cardiff made me hear them differently. What I always thought I knew as powerful pop classics were, in reality, chapters of a life marked by an almost unimaginable strength.
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Tina: The Tina Turner Musical Is At The Wales Millennium Centre Until Saturday, 28th Feb
Elle Ma-Kinga N’Zuzi (Tina) and Ikettes. Credit: Johan Persson
On its debut UK & Ireland tour, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical storms into Cardiff, honouring the iconic catalogue while refusing to dilute the complexity of the woman who sang it. The result is a five-star theatrical juggernaut that punches emotionally as hard as it thrills musically.
The Production explores the life of Anna Mae Bullock, the young woman from Nutbush who becomes Tina Turner, following her from small-town beginnings into the dizzying, sometimes violent world of popular music. The show traces her meeting and partnership with Ike Turner, the rise of their act to international fame, and the personal cost that comes with that success.
Songs such as The Best, What’s Love Got to Do With It?, Private Dancer and River Deep, Mountain High are woven seamlessly into the narrative, propelling the action forward and giving real weight to the turning points in Tina’s life.
Tina, played by Elle Ma-Kinga N’Zuzi gives a performance I won’t forget. It’s a full-body, full-voice performance, fierce when it needs to be, vulnerable in quieter moments, and it really does make you feel the distance Tina travelled. Young Anna Mae, played by Chizaram Ochuba-Okaforis delivered one of the standout performances of the night during the finale, when young Anna Mae joined adult Tina Turner for a soaring section of Proud Mary (Rolling on the River).
Elle Ma-Kinga N’Zuzi (Tina). Credit: Johan Persson
David King-Yombo delivers a chilling turn as Ike, playing him as ruthlessly power-hungry. There’s a controlled menace to his performance that makes the darker scenes feel genuinely unsettling. His portrayal gives the story real tension, giving the audience something to push back against, and making Tina’s eventual reinvention feel even more hard-won.
The company around them is second to none. Dancers, band and supporting cast move with a precision that keeps the evening taut, there’s not a single weak link. River of movement and song sweep the stage in well-constructed waves, big production numbers that let you dance in your seat, and intimate scenes that tighten the chest.
I’ll admit, I love a camp, slightly cringey jukebox musical as much as anyone, give me big wigs, knowing winks and a sing-along and I’m happy. But Tina plays a different game. While technically a jukebox musical, it sidesteps the easy pastiche and instead treats the songs as storytelling devices. The hits aren’t there for karaoke value, they’re placed with intention, and often hit harder because of it.
This is not a light evening. The show tackles domestic violence and racism head-on and includes strong language and images that land hard. The warnings are there for a reason. Those scenes give the more joyful moments their hard-won catharsis. When the final, wall-shaking numbers arrive you can feel the release, the whole auditorium rose and danced to a medley of Tina’s most iconic hits.
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There are shows that entertain, and shows that change how you hear a song or see a moment of history. Tina does the latter. It reframes familiar hits in the context of a life lived under pressure and reclamation.
If you love the music, you’ll adore it. If you came for the spectacle, you’ll get your money’s worth. If you came to feel something complicated and real, to sit with both the darkness and the glory, you’ll leave satisfied (and slightly breathless!)
