Tina - The Tina Turner Musical REVIEW 3 Oct 2024 ****

THEATRE

Written by Katori Hall with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins, with most songs from Tina’s catalogue

At Princess Theatre until 26 Jan 2025

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: ****

Ruva Ngwenya & Ikettes TINA The Musical_credit-Daniel Boud

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 5 Oct 2024. KH

 

Ruva Ngwenya is electric as Tina Turner in this musical. She ignites the stage with her powerful presence, voice, vivacity and pure ebullience. She does not simply impersonate Tina but she channels the vocal quality and energy of Tina.

 

The audience stood as one for the last 15 minutes of the show, dancing and clapping through her remarkable performance of Simply the Best and an encore of Nutbush City Limits.

 

Ngwenya is the vivid presence at the heart of this show that is deftly and imaginatively directed by Phyllida Lloyd. The production features a fine supporting cast, and Anthony van Laast’s spirited choreography, performed by the vibrant and talented ensemble, incorporates some of Tina’s own moves.

 

Tina is a juke-book musical; unlike other musicals for which original songs are written, almost all of the songs in Tina are from the repertoire that Tina performed or recorded over her career.

 

The song list includes numerous huge hits and some lesser-known tunes. (Strangely, none of the songs’ writers are credited in the program. I had to hunt online for those.) You might think you're not a Tina Turner fan, but you’ve probably caught yourself singing along to them in the car: Simply the Best, What’s Love Got to Do With It, River Deep Mountain High, Private Dancer, We Don’t Need Another Hero and that old chestnut, Nutbush City Limits.

 

The book for Tina, written by Katori Hall with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins, traces her life. The dramatic text is chronological, following Tina’s biography from her difficult childhood (child Anna Mae was played by the exceptional Zoe Desmier) when she was called Anna Mae Bullock. Her mother, Zelma (Ibinabo Jack), abandoned her but took Tina’s sister, Alline (Jayme-Lee Hanekom), to St. Louis, leaving Tina with her volatile preacher father (Augie Tchantcho). She then lived with her Granny (Deni Gordon) until Mum took her back – with a push from Alline.

 

Here begins her slow climb to singing and the ill-fated encounter with Ike Turner – played with sassy villainy by Giovanni Adams – who recruited her as a singer for his band, then used and abused her, resented her talent, and manipulated her into marrying him, evidently so he could control her and take advantage of her greater talent and marketability. After such violence, coercive control and manipulation, Tina escapes Ike, bruised, abused and poverty-stricken with two kids; it is a slow crawl up a very long hill towards the Tina we recognise.

 

Translating a biography into dramatic form is tricky; a life rarely has a clear dramatic arc and there are so many episodes, twists and turns and characters that must be edited and contracted to form a cohesive and coherent dramatic story. (Jersey Boys was the most effective of this form.) This may mean that too much or too little is included. In Tina, rather too much of her early life and some later, less fully developed episodes are included, and her chequered life is a lot to cram into a musical once you add the songs.

 

Some characters are not fully fleshed out, including her second husband, Erwin Bach (Matthew Prime), and her Aussie manager, Roger Davies (Mat Verevis). This is a reflection on the writing rather than the performances.

 

Despite its few shortcomings, Tina is an exhilarating production and Ngwenya’s ebullient and impassioned performance makes it a memorable night.

 

By: Kate Herbert.

 

 

Cast

Ruva Ngwenya -Tina Turner

Giovanni Adams -  Ike Turner

Jochebel Ohene MacCarthy -Tina Turner alternate

Zoe Desmier Chidl Anna Mae

 

Ibinabo Jack -Tina’s mother Zelma Bullock

Deni Gordon - Tina’s Grandmother Gran Georgeanna (GG)

Nadia Komazec - manager Rhonda Graam.  

Jayme-Lee Hanekom  -sister Alline Bullock & Ikettes

Augie Tchantcho -father Richard Bullock,

Rishab Kern -first love Raymond Hill,

Matthew Prime -Erwin Bach

Mat Verevis/- Roger Davies,

Matthew Hamilton Phil Spector and Lyricist Terry Britten

 Blake Erickson musician Martyn Ware and Carpenter.

Ensemble members include Mia Dabkowski-Chandler, Nicholas Eaton, Abu Kebe as Ronnie, Jenni Little as Toni,Loredo Malcolm, David Mairs-McKenzie as Craig, Emily Nkomo as an Ikette, Gus Noakes, Kristin Paulse, Ilana Richardson, Tendai Rinomhota, Noel Samuels, Rebecca Selley as an Ikette and Tigist Strode as an Ikette.

 

Creative Team

Written by Katori Hall with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins

director Phyllida Lloyd

 choreography Anthony van Laast

 set & costume Mark Thompson

 musical supervision, additional music & arrangements by Nicholas Skilbeck,

lighting Bruno Poet,

sound Nevin Steinberg

projection design Jeff Sugg

 orchestrations Ethan Popp

 wigs, hair & makeup design  Campbell Young Associates.

 

Songs  credits

Act I

•            "Nutbush City Limits" (Tina Turner) - Richard, Young Tina and Company

•            "Don't Turn Around" (Albert Hammond, Diane Warren) - Tina, Gran Georgeanna and Company

•            "Shake a Tail Feather" (Otha Hayes, Verlie Rice, Andre Williams) - Alline, Tina, Ikettes and Company

•            "The Hunter" (Booker T. Jones, C. Wells, Al Jackson, Jr., Donald Dunn, Steve Cropper) - Ike and Ronnie

•            "Matchbox" (Ike Turner) - Ike, Tina and Company

•            "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" (Rose Marie McCoy, Sylvia McKinney) - Zelma, Ike, Tina, Alline, Ikettes and Company

•            "A Fool in Love" (I. Turner) - Tina and Ikettes

•            "Let's Stay Together" (Al Green, Willie Mitchell, Jackson) - Raymond and Tina

•            "Better Be Good to Me" (Holly Knight, Mike Chapman, Nicky Chinn) - Tina and Company

•            "I Want to Take You Higher" (Sly Stone)- Tina, Alline and Ikettes

•            "River Deep Mountain High" (Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich) - Tina and Company

•            "Be Tender with Me Baby" (Knight, Hammond,) - Ike, Tina, Alline, Ikettes, Ronnie and Richard

•            "Proud Mary" (John Fogerty) - Tina, Ike, Alline and Ikettes

•            "I Don't Wanna Fight" (Lulu, Billy Lawrie, Steve DuBerry) - Tina and Company

Act II

•            "Private Dancer" (Mark Knopfler) - Tina

•            "Disco Inferno" (Leroy Green, Ron Kersey)- Tina and Company

•            "Open Arms" (Martin Brammer, Colette van Sertima, Ben Barson) - Rhonda, Tina and Company

•            "I Can't Stand the Rain" (Ann Peebles, Don Bryant, Bernard Miller) - Tina, Ike and Company

•            "Tonight" (David Bowie, Iggy Pop) - Young Tina, Gran Georgeanna, Tina and Roger

•            "What's Love Got to Do with It?" (Terry Britten, Graham Lyle) - Tina, Ikettes, Ronnie and Raymond

•            "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" (Britten, Lyle) - Tina and Company

•            "The Best" (Knight, Chapman) - Tina and Company

•            "Finale: "Nutbush City Limits (Reprise)" (T. Turner) / Proud Mary (Reprise)" (Fogerty) - Company

 

Songwriters in parentheses

In the Broadway production "Rocket 88" replaced "The Hunter" and "She Made My Blood Run Cold" was included after "Matchbox". Beginning in 2021, the same change was made to the West End production.

 

 

LUNG On Screen- 21-27 Oct 2024

Nikki Coghill, Geoff Wallis- LUNG- image Darren Gill

Book Now for LUNG by Kate Herbert On Screen ONLY. 21-27 Oct.

Part of Seniors Festival Victoria with La Mama On Screen.

Click the Link to book:

 https://lamama.com.au/whats-on/seniors-festival-at-la-mama-2024/lung-online/

KATE HERBERT Arts Weekly3MBS Sat5Oct2024

In this radio spot, I talk with Arts Weekly producer, Nick Tolhurst, about Tina: The Tina Turner Musical   and about Making it Up (One Playwright to Another).

KATE HERBERT Arts Weekly 3MBS Sat7Sept2024

In this radio spot, I talk with Arts Weekly producer, Nick Tolhurst, about Frankenstein, adapted by Shake & Stir, and Mother by Daniel Keene with Noni Hazlehurst directed by Matt Scholten.

 https://youtu.be/bvkl_Qkcnjo 

Mother REVIEW 5 Sept 2024 ***** (5)

THEATRE

Mother by Daniel Keene

At Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne, until 21 Sept 2024

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: ***** (5)

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 7 Sept 2024. KH

Noni Hazlehurst in Mother_photo Brett Boardman

 

Mother by Daniel Keene is an unforgettable theatrical experience. It is a jewel that doesn’t sparkle, but burns with the pain of Christie (Noni Hazlehurst), a homeless, alcohol-addled, ageing woman.

 

In this provocative and heart wrenching solo performance as Christie, Hazlehurst grabs us by the scruff of the neck and shakes us about like a rag doll, not releasing her vice-like grip until the tragic end.

 

Keene’s dialogue and Hazlehurst’s vivid performance are unsentimental but sympathetic, bold but sensitive, hurling us from aching hilarity to searing tragedy in a moment. Not a breath can be heard by the awful last moments of revelation.

 

Directed with muscularity and delicacy (Yes, I know that sounds impossible!) by Matt Scholten, Hazelhurst’s audacious characterisation is nuanced and impeccably detailed. She is totally credible as this homeless, loveless, hapless woman and captures her physical friability with fluttering hands clutching at her stained clothing, tottering steps that barely keep her in balance and filthy bare feet that tell the story of the long and painful track Christie has trod to bring her to this place.

Noni Hazlehurst in Mother_photo Brett Boardman

 

Hazlehurst spends 70 minutes on a stage that is littered with dead leaves, the detritus left behind by others and her own meagre collection of items. She hugs to herself a grubby sling that seems to hold something precious as she moves painfully through yet another relentless day. We travel through Christie’s memories of her baby boy, her husband Lenny, her drinking “the good stuff” with Mrs. Kennedy, blackouts, visits to the hospital, pubs and back streets. The environment is expressed simply and clearly with just the call of a magpie, the ding of a tram or the distant chime a church bell.

 

Keene’s dialogue is both lyrical and gritty, capturing the grime of street language and the poetry of the heart. He is back in territory that feels like theatrical home for him. Many decades ago, I savoured every season of the Keene/Taylor Theatre Project, and his short plays about the underclass, the disenfranchised and dispossessed, many of which were performed in venues as down-at-heel as the characters he depicted.

 

We would pass Christie on the street and swipe our gaze away, deleting her from our view. Her history and herself may be obscured from our vision, and she may appear to us as a dirty, down-and-out drunk, but she never gives up and has the will to continue to live her life, such as it is. Somebody else might be worse off – but not many, she quips wryly.

 

Mother is theatre at its best – and what an impressive and thrilling team this actor, writer and director make! 

 

 By Kate Herbert

Cast

Performed by Noni Hazlehurst

 

Creative Team

Directed by Matt Scholten

Associate Director Andrea Mina

Produced by Hey Dowling

Set, Props and Costume by Kat Chan

Lighting Design by Tom Willis

Sound Design by Darius Kedros

 

 

Frankenstein REVIEW 25 Aug 2024 ***

 THEATRE 

Adapted from Mary Shelley by Nelle Lee

By Shake & Stir Theatre Co

At Princess Theatre until 1 Sept 2024 (then Sydney 28 Sept to 13 Oct)

 Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: *** (3) 

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 7 Sept 2024. KH

 Frankenstein-Darcy Brown, Jeremiah Wray (screen)

The stage production of Frankenstein, adapted by Nelle Lee from Mary Shelley’s horror novella, captivates audiences with its stunning visuals that effectively create a sense of location and atmosphere throughout the performance.

 

The elaborate set design and evocative lighting and special effects in Nick Skubij’s production, transport us to19th-century Geneva and the eerie laboratories where young, ambitious scientist, Victor Frankenstein (Darcy Brown) conducts his secret experiments.

 

The compelling visual elements of Frankenstein are a testament to the talent of the creative team: Josh McIntosh’s intricate set design, dynamic lighting by Trent Suidgeest, Guy Webster's atmospheric sound, as well as Steven Boyle’s grisly body make-up for the Creature (Jeremiah Wray).

 

This undeniably impressive design detail creates a visually stunning experience for audiences. However, the production does not balance spectacle and substance. The human drama at the heart of the story is dwarfed by the visual spectacle, overshadowing the onstage action and the delicate, psychological drama that is at the heart of Shelley’s narrative: Victor is driven to create humanity, the Creature is driven to make human connection. When this human warmth and relationship is denied the Creature, he lashes out in a vengeful torrent of destruction.

 

There is too much narration taken from Shelley’s prose and the characters remain two- dimensional and lacking emotional layers. Victor trembles with excitement then trepidation and, eventually, horror at the result of his disastrous experiment but his behaviour becomes repetitive and predictable.

 

Elizabeth (Chloé Zuel) is loving, concerned and reminds him of his home, Victor’s father  (Tony Cogin) is supportive and long-suffering, Henry (Nick James), Victor’s lifelong friend, is buoyant, unwitting, loyal and relentlessly cheerful, while their housekeeper, Justine (Anna Lise Phillips), is maternal and protective. There is little light and shade in any of them, except perhaps, the Creature.

 

Wray’s Creature is statuesque and perhaps too beautiful an example of the human species to be truly horrific. He is athletic and physically adroit and his “birth” in Victor’s lab and ensuing attempts at simple movements as he scrambles across the floor are alarming and extraordinary.

 

With more equilibrium between its spectacular visual elements and the emotional core of the narrative, Frankenstein could truly be a standout theatre experience.

 

By Kate Herbert

Cast 

Darcy Brown -Dr Victor Frankenstein

Jeremiah Wray -The Creature.

Chloé Zuel -Elizabeth.

Anna Lise Phillips - Justine

Tony Cogin – Father of Frankenstein

Nick James  - Henry

 

Creative Team

Director & Creative Producer - Nick Skubij

Adaptor -Nelle Lee

Designer - Josh McIntosh

Creative Producer-  Ross Balbuziente

Lighting Designer – Trent Suidgeest

Sound Designer & Composer – Guy Webster

Movement & Fight Director – Nigel Poulton

Creature Make-up Design -Steven Boyle

 

KATE HERBERT Arts Weekly 3MBS Sat17Aug2024

In this radio spot, I talk with Arts Weekly producer, Nick Tolhurst, about SIX the musical return season in Melbourne, and Apologia by Nicola Gunn at Malthouse. 

Only 7-8 mins.

Apologia REVIEW 9 Aug 2024 ***

THEATRE

Written by Nicola Gunn, by Malthouse Theatre

At Beckett Theatre, Malthouse until 18 August 2024

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: *** (3)

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 17 August 2024. KH

Apologia_Nicola Gunn_c Gregory Lorenzutti

Nicola Gunn’s performance work is always surprising, eccentric and often extremely successful. Apologia succeeds in its first parts, but its final section is less satisfying.

 

Written, performed and directed by Gunn, the marvellously quirky conceit is Gunn’s absurd fantasy of being a French actress, a persona that she perceives to be elegant, romantic, stylish and mysterious, amongst plenty of other stereotypes of the Parisian woman. Of course, she speaks no French, but seems to think this is a surmountable obstacle. Funny concept!

 

The second character in this performance is a French-English translator Severine Magois, who is present only by voice, although a large speaker on a stand that projects her voice feels very human after we’ve listened to her for a while. Severine is a heavy smoker (we can hear her Vaping), acerbic, asocial, and completely uninterested in being a romantic representation of a French woman and, in fact, uncertain what being a French woman means.

 

Gunn and Magois argue and banter as they try to determine the characteristics of a French woman, and how a film script about this French translator and her mother would look and sound. As they argue, Gunn changes on stage into a parade of chic, black outfits, including sassy underwear.

 

In part two, Gunn becomes the French actress with a perfectly dubbed French accent, as she stands upstage behind a scrim, talking on the phone to her mother.

 

What follows is totally dislocated from this first section: two Japanese tourists – speaking Japanese with surtitles – muse on the replica spire being built on the cathedral of Notre Dame. It raises the issue of language, identity, nationality, and expectations of Paris. Evidently, according to program notes, it explores what is known as “Paris Syndrome” when tourists – particularly Japanese – are disappointed with Paris. This could have been more fully explored to link this episode with the first section.

 

The final section with Gunn and her co-actors – all sporting body-hugging, lacy leotards and waving coloured discs around – resembles a bizarre, 1970s drama class. I have no idea what this was doing in the piece, apart from the fact that it represents distortion and dislocation and perception of colour.

With a different ending, Apologia might be a more expressive and successful piece.

 

By: Kate Herbert.

 

Cast

Nicola Gunn, Yumi Umiumare, Taka Kakiguchi, Voice: Severine Magois

 

Creative Team

Nicola Gunn -Writer/ Director

Karie Atland -Set  Design

Kate Davis -Costume Designer

Emma Valente - Lighting Designer

Darios Kedros - Composer/Sound Designer

Martyn Coutts -AV Designer

Aoi Matsushima – Japanese translator