By Nick Dent
Rock legend Tina Turner has many connections to Australian culture.
Her manager and the man who shepherded her to stardom, Roger Davies, is Australian. Her biggest hit, What’s Love Got to Do With It?, was co-written by an Australian.
At the height of her fame she arrived down under to star in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and in a game-changing NRL advertising campaign.
Ruva Ngwenya is electric as the lead in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical.
But for Ruva Ngwenya, who plays Tina in the Australian production of Tina – The Tina Turner Musical, the connection is even closer.
“At 15 years old, I played her in a high school musical and sang River Deep – Mountain High,” she says.
“And if I do say so myself, I killed it.”
Ngwenya left Kew High and enrolled in the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School (VCASS) the next year.
“So it’s pretty massive to be playing Tina 15 years later in the professional setting.”
Tina originated in London and opened in Sydney shortly before Turner’s death at age 83 in May 2023.
Where Tina differs from jukebox musicals about the Four Seasons (Jersey Boys) and Carole King (Beautiful) is in the extraordinary obstacles Turner faced on her rags-to-riches journey.
Raised in poverty in rural Tennessee, Tina – born Anna Mae Bullock – was discovered by bandleader Ike Turner, who would become her collaborator on a string of hits, as well as her husband and her abuser.
Tina Turner performing at the 1993 NRL grand final at Allianz Stadium. Credit: NRL Photos
Divorced and washed up by the late 1970s, she would go on to record the seminal Private Dancer album and become a massive solo star at the age of 44.
As the show’s resident director Leah Howard describes it: “She dealt with extreme racism, extreme sexism and extreme ageism.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Katori Hall, who worked on the musical’s book (script), says Tina’s openness about her marriage made her life a forerunner to the #MeToo movement.
“She validated a lot of people’s struggles – just to see her be so honest about the domestic abuse that she went through and to be an example of how you can survive,” Hall said.
The musical traces Turner’s story from her childhood in Nutbush, Tennessee, to troubled stardom with Ike Turner and her 1980s reinvention.Credit: Daniel Boud
The show’s Australian production comes at a time when government action on domestic abuse is reaching a tipping point.
“Now it’s official, it’s been declared a national crisis,” Ngwenya said. “It’s good to have art that reflects our reality so we can invoke change.
“What she went through was extraordinarily tough, but it ends on top of the summit. It’s inspiring and motivating to tell that story.”
There is one other Australian connection: the “Nutbush” line dance.
“Tina did know about it, but doing auditions with the international creative team, it was funny because they had no idea,” Howard said.
“There might be a little homage in the show to our wonderful Nutbush.”
Tina – The Tina Turner Musical plays at the Lyric Theatre, QPAC, June 29-August 23.
National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).