Tina—The Tina Turner Musical Will Close on Broadway This Summer

Tina—The Tina Turner Musical, nominated for 12 2020 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, will play its final performance at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre August 14. The production, which officially opened November 7, 2019, following previews that began October 12, will have played 27 previews and 482 regular performances at the time of closing.

The international hit musical will subsequently launch a 30-city national tour September 14 in Providence, Rhode Island.

https://www.playbill.com/article/tin...dway-this-fall

Besides JERSEY BOYS [which is still running off-Broadway], it seems as if these shows aren't lasting too long.

I gather Covid has had its effect as well. But even before that, in the past decade, besides TINA, I've seen MOTOWN THE MUSICAL, AIN'T TOO PROUD, SUMMER, and THE CHER SHOW and most of them had limited runs. It is too bad as I enjoyed them all.

@Reese,

I'm not a big fan of the jukebox musicals. I did see "5 Guys Named Moe," which was an early [[90s) revue of songs by Louis Jordan, I believe. I also saw "Motown the Musical." I listened to "Beautiful" the Carole King musical and "Jersey Boys." What I always walk away from these shows thinking is that the show may have been okay, but I'd always rather hear the songs by the original singers. I mean Cher is a good example. Who could ever sound like her, and if it's a great imitation, I don't know, why bother?

Of course I'm glad if these musicals open up the artists' repertoire to a new audience, so I'm all for that. It's just that for me they don't play that well.

I don't know what it takes to break even on Broadway these days, but I would speculate that these shows are cheaper to produce than say "Phantom" or "Les Miz." If "Tina" played more than a year that would seem to be a pretty good run.

How long did the other shows you cite run? I thought Motown the Musical was also very successful.

Anyway, just curious as to what caused you to reach that conclusion. Thanks.

I'm sad, but not surprised. The show is superb fun, but the American audience for Tina was never consistent, and with the European audiences staying away from the USA there's just not really an interest in the show. I raved about it to friends after the reopening and no one shave a git. So be it. Go if you can.

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Originally Posted by kenneth

@Reese,

I'm not a big fan of the jukebox musicals. I did see "5 Guys Named Moe," which was an early [[90s) revue of songs by Louis Jordan, I believe. I also saw "Motown the Musical." I listened to "Beautiful" the Carole King musical and "Jersey Boys." What I always walk away from these shows thinking is that the show may have been okay, but I'd always rather hear the songs by the original singers. I mean Cher is a good example. Who could ever sound like her, and if it's a great imitation, I don't know, why bother?

Of course I'm glad if these musicals open up the artists' repertoire to a new audience, so I'm all for that. It's just that for me they don't play that well.

I don't know what it takes to break even on Broadway these days, but I would speculate that these shows are cheaper to produce than say "Phantom" or "Les Miz." If "Tina" played more than a year that would seem to be a pretty good run.

How long did the other shows you cite run? I thought Motown the Musical was also very successful.

Anyway, just curious as to what caused you to reach that conclusion. Thanks.

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I probably lumped them in together but in particular, I was thinking of SUMMER: THE DONNA SUMMER MUSICAL and THE CHER SHOW. The former ran 9 months on Broadway, the latter ran 8 months. I have no idea whether or not they were profitable. I just thought they would have run longer having such well-known subjects.

Funny as I write this, a commercial just ran advertising the upcoming touring company of TINA.

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Originally Posted by reese

I probably lumped them in together but in particular, I was thinking of SUMMER: THE DONNA SUMMER MUSICAL and THE CHER SHOW. The former ran 9 months on Broadway, the latter ran 8 months. I have no idea whether or not they were profitable. I just thought they would have run longer having such well-known subjects.

Funny as I write this, a commercial just ran advertising the upcoming touring company of TINA.

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You know they may have longer lives on road tours because they can play much smaller venues and I imagine most of them don't have very large orchestras. That's what I was thinking when I speculated that I thought that were cheaper to produce than full fledged "musicals."

I am curious about the Cher musical. Didn't more than one singer play her? Any impressions to share from anyone?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kenneth

You know they may have longer lives on road tours because they can play much smaller venues and I imagine most of them don't have very large orchestras. That's what I was thinking when I speculated that I thought that were cheaper to produce than full fledged "musicals."

I am curious about the Cher musical. Didn't more than one singer play her? Any impressions to share from anyone?

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Yes, there were three Chers. Just as there were three Donnas.

I saw both shows but I don't really have specific impressions to share, other than I really enjoyed both. The Summer musical was in town a few months ago and I was planning to see it again but never got around to buying a ticket.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by reese

Yes, there were three Chers. Just as there were three Donnas.

I saw both shows but I don't really have specific impressions to share, other than I really enjoyed both. The Summer musical was in town a few months ago and I was planning to see it again but never got around to buying a ticket.

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That’s very interesting. That would seem to make sense with Cher, because she had a very long career which went through many different phases. But Donna Summer‘s golden years were really somewhat limited to the late 70s disco era and then the more pop oriented 80s. I wonder why they needed three singers to portray Donna Summer. Just curious. Any recollection of how the singers were utilized in the portrayal?

It would seem Las Vegas is a good place for these shows as well because there would be a lot of audience available of the age where they would recall these singers and their glory years.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kenneth

That’s very interesting. That would seem to make sense with Cher, because she had a very long career which went through many different phases. But Donna Summer‘s golden years were really somewhat limited to the late 70s disco era and then the more pop oriented 80s. I wonder why they needed three singers to portray Donna Summer. Just curious. Any recollection of how the singers were utilized in the portrayal?

It would seem Las Vegas is a good place for these shows as well because there would be a lot of audience available of the age where they would recall these singers and their glory years.

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From what I remember, it was Duckling Donna, Disco Donna, and Diva Donna.

Duckling Donna covered her formative years with her roots in church.

Disco Donna was the 70s/80s superstar period. She was portrayed by Adriana DeBose, who I had already seen in MOTOWN: THE MUSICAL and who recently won an Oscar for WEST SIDE STORY.

Diva Donna covered the more mature years and was portrayed by LaChanze, whom I had seen in THE COLOR PURPLE previously and just saw in TROUBLE IN MIND a few months ago.

There were also a few numbers where two or more Donnas would perform together.

The other thing I remember is that before the show began, a small turntable was on the stage. If you were close enough, you could see that the album on it was from Casablanca Records. That was a nice touch, I thought.

Also, the show was rather fast-moving. There was no intermission.

@reese,

As Bob Hope often sang, "Thanks for the memory."

K

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Originally Posted by kenneth

@reese,

As Bob Hope often sang, "Thanks for the memory."

K

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No problem. :-)