Maybe there’s no other way to tell it but, almost minute for minute, the show beat matches the 1993 Turner biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It. There’s the opening scene in which a young, unruly Tina – or Anna Mae as she was back then – ad libs at her gospel choir in the desolate backwater of Nutbush, Tennessee; the scene where her mother leaves; where she first sings for Ike Turner; the abuse, the divorce and the solo career.
But whereas the film slows down and digs into its story, this musical never relents. It plays out in one very long montage, with no time to settle, hopping from one chapter to another. What gives this the edge over the film are, of course, the musical interludes every few minutes: River Deep – Mountain High, Let’s Stay Together, Private Dancer, Better Be Good to Me, Nutbush City Limits, Proud Mary. It’s irresistible. Everything is just so perfect and glossy, from the choreography to the beautiful costumes to the huge group of performers at the top of their, or anyone else’s, game.
Exquisitely cast in the role is Warren in her West End debut: she has the perfect poise and the high-heeled stagger, the straight back and the slightly-inward-pointing knees. She has the huge smile and ferocious charm. She has that impossible velocity when she dances, recreating iconic moves and routines with absolute ease. She has the slight rasp at the edge of her voice, which can draw down into quietness and tenderness or open wide into pure, belting power.
She’s more than mimicry and more than tribute. She’s an unbelievable embodiment of the warrior woman herself, as if she’s been possessed. And, without any doubt, she is the hardest-working woman on the West End stage. How she doesn’t collapse with exhaustion before the curtain is a miracle.