The role of Tina Turner in TINA: The Tina Turner Musical, is so physically demanding on a dancer and singer, it requires two actors to play the role during a week of performances.
The show, running April 23-28 at the Marcus Performing Arts Center, welcomes a cast of 27, including two Tina Turners; Ari Groover and Zurin Villanueva.
Villanueva and Groover had to grasp and interpret the mannerisms and nuances of the powerhouse Turner. Both observed concert footage and watched interviews with Turner to capture the force of the woman. Groover said the most difficult thing about being Turner in this show has been maintaining the stamina. “It’s a longer show,” Groover said. “We never leave the stage. You have to make sure you don’t need to use the restroom,” she jokes. “There are 22 songs in three hours.”
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Promotional material for the show says Turner, who died last year at 83, was a woman who dreamed fiercely. Groover said that is an apt description of what Turner did. “She had to rebuild her life after leaving Ike Turner, her former husband.”
Groover says she understands Turner’s daunting effort to recreate herself and her career at 45, including chart-topping hits. “Nobody had done that before,” she said. “There was no reason to believe she could do that and that’s why I think ‘dream fiercely’ is an appropriate term.”
Turner was only 17 when she met the already regionally successful Ike Turner. She started singing on weekends with Ike’s band while still in high school.
It was serendipity that Turner happened to move to Saint Louis to live with her mother. It wasn’t just talent Turner had, opportunity and luck had something to do with her success as well. Groover said luck and opportunity are needed for any performer. “When you have both, that’s when you succeed,” she said.
Groover said the cast performs six days a week with the seventh day a week being a travel day. That’s a grueling schedule for anybody, and it’s apparent why two actors are necessary. When she isn’t performing, Groover said she spends a lot of time just relaxing, being quiet, and drinking a lot of water.
“I’ll take myself out to a nice dinner, take care of myself,” she said.
Primarily a dancer, Groover didn’t have to do all that much to achieve the requisite physical stamina – besides a lot of Pilates to keep her core engaged. To embody Turner, Groover said she observed and studied the way Turner moved. “You’re running around all night in heels,” she said. “It’s a marathon. You don’t want to mess up.”
On the stage, Groover said the story starts when Turner is nine years old and it follows her to age 45, ending with a concert in Brazil before 180 thousand fans.
Groover said a personal favorite song of Turner’s is “River Deep, Mountain High,” which isn’t in the show. Her favorite song in the show is “Let Me Touch Your Mind.”
Groover described Turner’s powerful voice as a cross between rock and gospel, with an extremely large range, both low and high. Turner knew music, had a great ear for any song, and who in her band was musically off at any point. “She was an extreme musical talent.”
She never met Turner, but the woman meant a lot to Groover. She committed her ‘full self’ to the role, saying it is a huge honor to play Turner.
“It was a monumental undertaking and I was quite nervous. I was surprised this was happening in my life. Doing this show made me a stronger woman, a better human being than I was before.
See TINA: The Tina Turner Musical at Marcus Performing Arts Center April 23-28. Tickets are available online.
