This is Nottingham -- I COULD have sworn I saw Tina Turner in Nottingham last night. Turns out I was wrong. In fact it was an outrageously gifted singer and actress by the name of Jenny Fitzpatrick. But it was an easy mistake to make because Jenny must have Tina's DNA in her veins and Tina's soul in her heart. How else could she turn in such a phenomenal homage to one of the greatest rock and soul divas ever to strut across a stage? From the first notes of opening song Private Dancer, it was obvious the audience were in for something special. That was to introduce Tina in her triumphant solo persona before the story whisked her back to the 1950s when a 16-year-old church girl named Anna Mae Bullock left the town of Nutbush, Tennessee, looking for a better life. In the racially segregated Deep South of the time, there was little chance for a black girl ... unless she had a god-given talent like Anna Mae. It was her fortune, part good, part bad, to meet a musician named Ike Turner who was peddling his considerable talent around the juke joints of Mississippi, hoping for a break. He made her the singer in his band, changed her name to Tina, married the girl and together they hit the big time. But for the next 20 years he abused her and cheated on her and eventually lost her. Chris Tummings is admirable as Ike, skillfully revealing the many facets of a complex man: egotistical and vain, yet riven with self-doubt, insecurity, paranoia. The scenes of confrontation between Tummings and Fitzpatrick spark with intense anger and shocking violence. The dialogue is interspersed in the first half with the songs of Ike and Tina Turner, culminating in a storming River Deep Mountain High. And in the second half, as Tina is driven to the edge of suicide before she walks away from him for ever, come the songs with which she is best remembered: I Can't Stand The Rain, What's Love Got To Do With It, Steamy Windows and a sensational finale, The Best. Supported by the tightest of bands and exuberant singers, Soul Sister has every chance of moving up there alongside Mamma Mia and We Will Rock You, with the added advantage that it is underpinned by a raw and compelling true story. Soul Sister runs at the Theatre Royal until Saturday. For tickets call 0115 989 5555 or go to www.trch.co.uk.
Reported by This is 1 day ago.
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