Capturing the essence of  the late great Tina Turner on stage - video Dailymotion

SussexWorld

Elle Ma-Kinga N’Zuzi will be embodying the late great Tina Turner in The Tina Turner Musical as it heads to Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre (October 7-18).

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon. My name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers.

00:06Magnus pleasure to speak to Elle this afternoon and what a monumental role you are playing.

00:12The roles don't come much bigger than Tina Turner in Tina Turner, the Tina Turner musical,

00:17which is at Southampton's Mayflower from October the 7th to the 18th.

00:22And what is it that you have to capture about Tina? What do you have to do to be

00:27Tina? And to what extent do you have to be Tina?

00:31Oh, so there's a lot of watching archives involved, listening and tuning.

00:41We've had a wonderful rehearsal period with amazing creatives who knew Tina, worked with her,

00:50so we were in very good hands. But it's about maintaining this, maintaining

00:57her legacy because she wanted that show the way she wanted it. And we're still, we owe

01:04it to her and also to the audience. We also want to have a little bit of Tina because they

01:14miss her. Everybody miss her, you know? So it's a lot of work.

01:24Absolutely. But you're saying a funny line too, because you don't want to mimic.

01:30Exactly. You don't, you don't want to mimic Tina because there's only one team, right? So you're

01:37yourself, you're, I'm an actress. I use my body as it is. I use my voice as it is. But I have a little

01:48bit of toolbox. I have a toolbox for the moves, more distance, the way of carrying yourself. And there's

01:59also a toolbox for the vocals, which is how to use the growl, how to raise some words that she would use

02:09in some places, how to sing that song. So people can be like, oh my God, and this is the best compliment I

02:17can, I can have a third performance to receive a message, usually via Instagram. Oh my God, it was like

02:25seeing Tina herself on stage. And this is the biggest compliment because this is okay. I was myself, I was

02:34out playing Tina. But I made her justice. So this is so heartwarming because everybody misses Tina. And

02:48we're carrying something that is big.

02:50It must be, it must be very empowering to step into those shoes because of what she represented,

02:55all that she ever came and all that she did become.

02:59Oh yeah. Yeah, it is. And it is also, it is also a lesson every time you play the show because

03:09the show itself is humbling. Because there's a lot that you have to put or to give in the show in order to,

03:23it retina me through and play it several times a week, but also to, to feel what she felt and to,

03:33um, and to be able to portray this and as sincere as you can, you know, uh, because she went through

03:47so much. Her life was, uh, very difficult. Uh, she has a lot of obstacles coming, coming her way and still

03:57she, she rose up and still, she was very resilient. And I think in my private life,

04:05it also teaches me a lot that you can, she would say, turn your poison into medicine. And that's what

04:14this show was about for her. And I think as a black female as well, I, it feels a little bit like a

04:25mission to play that part, to, um, to kind of, um, give a message to however it's going to be received

04:40to people that there's, there are still fights and battles that we, that, uh, you know, representation

04:48matters enormously. And when I see black women or, uh, little black girls in the audience, I'm like,

04:55this is us. This matters. This is us. It does matter. Yeah. And this is, I think,

05:04yeah, it's one of the best roles of my life.

05:08Absolutely. Well, Al, really lovely to speak to you. I was looking forward so much to seeing

05:14the musical anyway, but even more so now. Thank you ever so much for your time and great to meet you.

05:19Thank you so much. It was so great to meet you, Phil. And I hope to see you in Southampton.

05:24You will do. Thank you ever so much. Bye-bye. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Capturing the essence of the late great Tina Turner on stage

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