The Tina Turner Musical dazzles Dallas with high energy and iconic hits

Review by Martha Heimberg Tina — our “Proud Mary” —& was an amazing woman and a force of nature in performance. Tina – The Tina Turner Musical, by Katori Hall, tells her personal story woven around the songs she sang that thrilled the world. Ari Groover’s rich contralto voice powers the touring production, brought to the Music Hall at Fair Park by Broadway Dallas.(She shares the role with Parris Lewis). The show begins with Tina’s childhood as Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee, in a funny, upbeat opening number at a gospel meeting, with young Anna Mae (crowd-winning Brianna Cameron) singing louder than anybody on the stage and out-dancing all the grown-ups feeling the spirit. Choreographer Anthony Van Laast and a high-energy ensemble get-down on their knees and circle round with their chairs in the air. Oh, yes. Director Phyllida Lloyd directs with speed and sudden shifts of emotion. Moments later, we’re back home, and& Anna Mae’s mother (a feisty, tough Roz White) is scolding Anna Mae for showing off, when her father (Kristopher Stanley Ward) hits her mother, and she and her sister try to pull him off. Throughout the show, it’s hard to watch the honestly portrayed violence...