Two years ago this month, Tina Turner died at the age of 83 at her home in Switzerland. The global superstar and rock icon had a career spanning more than five decades.
Although she retired from performing on stage in her late 60s, one of her final projects was to collaborate on Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, which debuted in London’s West End in 2018.
Turner didn’t write the musical, however she was heavily involved in the creative process, providing input on various aspects of the story. The show spans four decades and charts her rise to international fame, but it also portrays the difficulties and struggles that the singer lived through.
“That was a huge thing for her. She really wanted to not portray her life in any kind of way of Disney,” explains Simone Mistry-Palmer, the show’s choreographer and assistant director. “She really wanted to show it, you know, the good, the bad and the ugly”.
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The “bad and the ugly” that Mistry-Palmer is referring to is the sixteen years of abuse that Turner suffered at the hands of her ex-husband Ike. The pair rose to fame in the early 60s as a husband and wife musical duo, but Turner was abused the entire time. After the pair split, with less than a dollar to her name, the then 37-year old had to rebuild her life and relaunch her career as a solo artist.
Set to a soundtrack of her iconic hits, the theatre show packs everything in and more, says Mistry-Palmer. “It’s all in there, the stuff with Ike Turner, the abuse, you’ve got racism, you’ve got misogyny, you’ve got it all, you know, but despite all of that, you know, she comes out on top”.
This month, the musical is coming to Dublin’s Bord Gáis Energy Theatre for a three week run from May 27th. Jochebel Ohene MacCarthy will be playing Turner. It’s a dream come true for the singer and actress, who originally auditioned to play a different part.
“I auditioned for Tina Turner’s mum Zelma, so it came as a shock. It’s a lot of weight to carry because this woman was an absolute legend, so I wanted to make sure when I did her work that I was doing it to the best of my abilities,” she says.
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