TINA's future (November 2021 and beyond)

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 5:35pm

I was just looking at TINA tickets for around the holidays and was shocked to see so much inventory after Adrienne Warren leaves. Unless things really turn around, this doesn't look like it lasts past the 2nd week of January.

Here's one random date in mid-November:



Obviously one weeknight doesn't tell a whole story, but things don't look much better surrounding Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's not a family show. Even next week has tons of availability.

AIN'T TOO PROUD and MOULIN ROUGE seem to be packin' em in at the expense of TINA. If TINA closes in January, the Nederlanders' ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME could take the Lunt in the spring?

Updated On: 4/24/22 at 05:35 PM

[adotburr]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 5:38pm

That doesn’t look good…

I wonder though, does that mean more lottery tickets become available if the show isn’t selling?

[ACL2006]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 5:40pm

I haven't seen a discount code for TINA.

[Lunalaaaaaaaa]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 5:41pm

People had been saying this on other threads. When Adrienne leaves, the show was going to struggle. Nkeki is undoubtedly talented too. 

Updated On: 10/26/21 at 05:41 PM

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 5:41pm

Warren's performance was the sole reason to see this show; frankly, she singlehandedly saved it from becoming a colossal disaster.

Although I've heard Nkeki is a solid Tina, nobody compares to Warren, and ticket sales are showing this. I see them performing on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year (again) to promote the final weeks, before packin' it up in early January. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 5:46pm

adotburr – Sure, a show could release more lotto tickets if there's inventory to fill, but no show can last with audiences paying lotto prices. They need 1000 people a night paying $100 8x a week if they have a prayer of recouping. These ticket charts are abysmal.

It is weird they haven't pushed discounts for November and beyond yet.

Even if Warren had stayed, she alone isn't enough to make this a hit. It would have looked better than this, but a lot of sales from the past 4 weeks would have been spread out over the course of her run. A Tony win for Best Actress doesn't mean THAT much when the performer is not known outside of small Broadway circles.

Meanwhile, AIN'T TOO PROUD just released a slew of dates on TDF.

Updated On: 10/26/21 at 05:46 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 5:57pm

There was a discount code - I remember getting a mailer with it.

But yeah, the show is…not good. Warren was good, the show itself is just a mess which is a shame because the script could easily have been fixed.

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 6:14pm

MAIL2 is the code, but it makes no sense that they're not promoting the discount on BroadwayBox, Theatermania, or Playbill.

[dan94]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 7:31pm

I was there this past Sunday when Adrienne called out. Nkeki is undoubtedly talented, but the part calls for the performer to emulate a legend and Nkeki is an undoubtedly talented chorus girl. Sings extremely well, although she sounds nothing like Tina Turner. Acts well for a few selected scenes, but fails to create a full character. Has zero star quality IMO.

The show is just awful. Shoddy acting, canned sounding music, high school show choir choreography when not completely copying Tina Turner, cheap looking wigs.


I wish I could be more positive but even the front of house staff were terrible. 3 different people working the entry lines pointed me in 3 different directions to get to Will Call. After getting to Will Call the box office attendant gave me an attitude when she couldn't find the ticket. I used Audience Rewards points and bought the ticket over a week ago, but the ticket was never printed. I don't see how that makes me worthy of her attitude when I was nothing but polite. The ushers in the Mezzanine subsequently pointed people to the wrong sections and a decent sized portion of people had to be reseated minutes before the show. They were pointed to the front Mezz and had Mid Mezz tickets. They were not very happy. I have not encountered such shoddy front of house staff since Broadway reopened.

Save your money and watch What's Love Got To Do With It on cable once Adrienne leaves. Myra Lucretia Taylor was the only thing excellent on that stage, and she's in about 2 scenes.

Updated On: 10/26/21 at 07:31 PM

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 8:43pm

I had to dig out my playbill. When I saw the show (January 8, 2020), both Adrienne Warren and Nkeki Obi-Melekwe were both out of the show with injuries so I saw the Tina understudy, Kayla Davion. She was great, but the book is a giant mess. The music numbers were largely okay, but for me the show didn’t come alive for me until the final song and the encore number. Freed of that horrid book, it finally reached the energy that IS Tina Turner. I tend to buy some merch at every show I see regardless of how much I liked it. I didn’t even buy a magnet at this one.

I adore Tina Turner and do wish this show had done her justice. It honestly kinda pissed me off even though I know Tina did give the show her blessing.

If this show closes sooner rather than later and ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME moves in, it’ll be sad that all those people are out of work again. I do have tentative optimistic thoughts for ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME. I’ll at least be happy that another performer who I love will have a show on Broadway. I used to think I largely didn’t like jukebox musicals, but then realized I just tend to not like stage bio-musicals (Jersey Boys, Tina) that much. The books always feel so cliff notes. I tend to like jukebox musicals with original plots (American Idiot, Jagged Little Pill, Mamma Mia) or are screen-to-stage adaptations (Moulin Rouge). Their books may not be perfect (Mamma Mia’s isn’t great), but it feels like at least more effort went into it.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 9:01pm

Yeah, I agree the bio-musical needs a rest. It's always "you're not a star" "I'll show you i'm a star" "Hey, look, i'm a star." Throw in some terrible parenting, abusive partner, and you've got all the shows. 

It was selling so well before the pandemic though. So interesting. 

[unclevictor]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 9:08pm

Pack up your dressing rooms, it’s over. No, u can’t have your show shoes.

[WldKingdomHM]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 9:22pm

No desire to see Nkeki.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 10:49pm

Oh and I agree about the staff at this particular theater. Only issue was the staff running the lines outside the theater. I realize it’s a stressful job (no doubt even more so now). I had a Will Call (Audience Rewards) ticket to pick up and at some theaters once you pick it up you go into a separate shorter line (basically the open the ropes for you) rather than the mainline and when I asked the staff person, he was insulting. That’s fine. My bad for asking. But then I saw a white male staff person talk incredibly insultingly down to two older African-American women and that really struck me wrong. I had no problems with the inside staff though that I can recall.

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 11:19pm

Nkeki performed on GMA the other day. She's a great singer, but she's not a great Tina Turner. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 11:28pm

It's insulting to Turner's legacy -- like JUDY and RESPECT -- that her bio musical is this bad, and that she personally approved of it and had to sit through it at the opening!

Most jukebox shows have finite lifespans. Look at THE CHER SHOW and SUMMER –– 3-4 solid months and then sales drop like a stone and they close at a loss.

TINA was only open 4 months pre-pandemic, and it came in with London buzz for Warren. Between the theatre diehards + tourists + people who know Turner has an interesting life story, that got it through the first few months and probably would have kept it going a few more if not for the pause.

Updated On: 10/26/21 at 11:28 PM

[Broadway Bob*]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 11:31pm

The bad ticket sales are NOT helped by the fact they are trying to charge Premium priced tickets for the full first two thirds of the orchestra and then going down to about $200 for the rest. People are obviously NOT paying those prices. You'd think they'd adjust, but so far I've seen nothing change. I was considering this show for my upcoming trips, but I wasn't willing to pay that much for it or sit near the back of the very deep theater they are in so I went with other shows instead.

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 11:38pm

‘Had to sit through it’? She was involved with the show since workshops.

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 11:51pm

i feel like this show got so much love back in the day, and i was one of the few saying it was a mess, start to finish. painful book. i love tina turner but whenever the protagonist helps write the show, they turn themselves into a saintly genius and remove any depth from the main character. that has always been true of this show, with or without warren.

i have no crystal ball on how this show will do going forward, and I thought Adrienne Warren gave a career-making, must-be-seen performance when I saw her last January, but I also saw her understudy (traveling, don't have playbill) and thought she was damn awesome, too. Certainly didn't think the show came off any btter/different with Warren on stage, and the crowd went wild both times. They are there to see and hear Tina, not Warren. Now that theater nerds have gone and seen it, I don't think the person playing TIna will have one ounce of impact on ticket sales. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/26/21 at 11:56pm

Was Turner actually involved creatively, or did she just give it her blessing by signing over life rights/catalog and monitoring it during development? She and her current husband have producing credits but that doesn't mean a ton. Sometimes it's better if the subject isn't involved.

[saxpower]

Posted: 10/27/21 at 12:15am

I checked the situation for the show I'm seeing (11/6 evening, just after Warren leaves) and its pretty decently sold other than the rear mezzanine.  Later performances are concerning, though.   I do think this is a case where the fact its Tina's story may be a draw for casual theatergoers/toutists, but fewer of them are coming to NYC right now.   That might improve some when we get in the holiday season, though (especially if COVID cases keep declining).   Question is whether the show can limp through for a while to get there. 

[dan94]

Posted: 10/27/21 at 12:46am

I think there's an interesting play in there somewhere that Katori Hall could write about Tina Turner, but the songs as used are bizarre and not slotted well. The book doesn't establish tone well and then when a tone can be surmised, it's super serious. So seeing Tina finally overcoming the emotional damage from her mother and then singing "we're in the thunderdome"? Clumsy.

The audience seemed happy with Nkeki and I agree it won't make much difference sales-wise. But there was something hollow seeing a show about a legend and having a run of the mill performance in the center.

And how are they getting away with only having like 10 musicians playing? Didn't Summer only have 7? I understand Tina Turner and Donna Summer used synths as part of their sounds, but isn't the house minimum at the Lunt typically 18? How is 7-10 a compromise or artistically necessary? Both shows sounded artificially flat and more synthesized than the original recordings.

[gibsons2]

Posted: 10/27/21 at 1:31am

jonartdesigns said: "Nkeki performed on GMA the other day. She's a great singer, but she's not a great Tina Turner."

Unlike Warren, she doesn't sound or move like Tina at all... I'm realizing now how fortunate I was when I saw Adrienne in person during previews two years ago, despite the cringe fest that this show was and apparently still is. Oh dear, that's what happens when a star becomes the show...

Updated On: 10/27/21 at 01:31 AM

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 10/27/21 at 2:16am

Isn’t that kind of inherent to the show? I mean, the show is centered on the star who is a star, ya know? Puts a lot of pressure on the lead performer. It’s similar to seeing The Cher Show. No one wants to see a Cher impression. We have seen that. I think both of these shows would have been better served going the Mamma Mia route. Great catalog of music, but Tina and Cher are icons above their catalog, so it’s tough to find an actress who can embody all of that 8x a week.

We shall see how MJ fares….

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 10/27/21 at 3:13am

RippedMan said: "Yeah, I agree the bio-musical needs a rest. It's always "you're not a star" "I'll show you i'm a star" "Hey, look, i'm a star." Throw in some terrible parenting, abusive partner, and you've got all the shows."

I think I generally prefer the bio-musicals (Jersey Boys, The Cher Show, On Your Feet) because you know what you're getting even if it's not that great. I like Mamma Mia and Cruel Intentions but so many of the regular jukebox musicals (Moulin Rouge, Head Over Heels, Jagged Little Pill) are a mess for no good reason. When they're not tied to one artist's songs, it's even more egregious.