New Tina Turner Bio-Musical in the Works

12/16/2016 by The Hollywood Reporter

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Award-winning playwright Katori Hall & "Mamma Mia!" director Phyllida Lloyd are attached to the project, currently being workshopped in London.

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Legendary queen of rock 'n' roll, Tina Turner, will be the subject of a new theatrical biographical musical being developed in London by Netherlands-based Stage Entertainment. The show's working title is Tina: The Musical.

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Playwright Katori Hall, who won acclaim for the Martin Luther King drama The Mountaintop, among other plays, is working with Dutch writers Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins on the project, with Phyllida Lloyd attached to direct.

While Lloyd is well-known for her bold takes on the classics, such as an an-female Shakespeare trilogy starring Harriet Walter, the director's biggest stage success has been the Abba jukebox musical Mamma Mia!, which became a global blockbuster.

Turner joined the creative and producing teams in London today for a workshop presentation of the piece, for which no timeline has been announced. Adrienne Warren, a Tony nominee this year for Shuffle Along, is playing Turner in the workshop.

"We have been working on the musical for over a year now, and today I am delighted to be able to share our news as we begin the next chapter of our journey," said Turner in a statement.

Tali Pelman, group creative director of Stage Entertainment, added: "Tina is a music legend and her iconic songs are matched only by the power and inspiration of her remarkable and moving story."

Turner's life was portrayed on the screen in the 1993 biopic What's Love Got to Do With It, starring Angela Bassett, which traced her difficult emergence from an abusive marriage to Ike Turner, clearing the path for her rise to superstardom as a solo artist in the 1980s. Her combined album and single sales are estimated at 180 million copies worldwide.

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The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductee -- and eight-time Grammy Award winner -- has charted a combined 37 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, both as a solo artist and has one-half of the duo Ike & Tina Turner. Among those hits were Turner's solo smashes "What's Love Got to Do With It," which spent three weeks at No. 1 in 1984, along with the top 10 hits "Better Be Good to Me," "I Don't Wanna Fight" and "We Don't Need Another Hero." Her iconic hit with Ike, "Proud Mary," reached No. 4 in 1971.

Turner's last studio album, Twenty Four Seven, was released in 2000, and hit No. 21 on the Billboard 200. She has since followed it up with assorted greatest hits releases, compilations and live albums, including her highest charting album ever, the No. 2-peaking All the Best in 2005.

An unrelated stage musical based on Turner's life and career, called Soul Sister, was produced in London's West End in 2012. Further details about the new show will be announced as the project develops.