Naomi Rodgers, at right, and backup singers perform a wide range of classic cuts in “Tina — The Tina Turner Musical.”Tina Turner was unforgettable.
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd, British director of the films “Mamma Mia!” and “The Iron Lady,” the musical has a book by Katori Hall, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of “The Hot Wing King” and “The Mountaintop,” with Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins, “A role like this, I don’t look it as a role,” Rodgers says. “I’m telling a true story. This is a real person we’re talking about, with a story that is so inspirational, but also tugs at the heart with what she’s been through. Playing Tina Turner is something iconic and otherworldly. You have to be inside of yourself and know yourself to be able to play a role such as this, because Tina knew herself. Tina knew the things that she wanted to do.
“I’m learning so much by watching Naomi perform,” Villanueva says. “It’s also really, really great to have that day off, to know that you can give a thousand percent because you’ve had the resting period. So it’s great twofold.”