Tina: The Tina Turner Musicalis based around the life and music of the woman regularly referred to as the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll.

It is currently enjoying a sell-out run at the Aldwych Theatre in London's West End.

I was able to review Tina at the Aldwych and, in Aisha Jawando's portrayal of Tina, witnessed one of theatre's most dynamic and powerfully enthralling theatrical performances.

Tina Turner is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, and his production opens with the power-house performer we remember preparing to take the stage before an adoring audience.

It is 1984, and in her mid-40s, she is about to embrace international stardom as the power-house artiste we have known.

But we quickly go back to where it all began for the young Anna Mae Bullock.

As with her life, Tina is a musical of two halves.

The first act concentrates on a Anna leaving Nutbush, Tennessee and finding musical recognition as part of the Ike and Tina Turner Review.

Ike, as portrayed over the years, was a drug fuelled, abusive misogynist, who exploited women for his own ends.

It was Ike who imposed the name Tina Turner on Anna, and then registered it for his future use.

Ike also marries the now Tina, to keep her down and in the band, but sees no need for marital fidelity.

This act closes with Tina finally rebelling against her violent, controlling husband, in a dramatic sequence that brings cheering from the audience as Ike gets his just deserts.

The second act focusses on Tina Turner's struggles to bring up her boys and with her esteem intact, before she achieves stardom as her own person and on her own terms.

The success of the 'jukebox' musical genre is that it offers the chance for audiences to enjoy a 'greatest hits' concert of the artiste or artistes' involved.

But there does need to be a theatrical layering around the songs.

Some, such as Mamma Mia and Bat out of Hell, achieve this with a plot that slots the songs into another realm.

Others, like Buddy : the Buddy Holly Story; Beautiful : the Carole King Musical and Jersey Boys (the Four Seasons).will use the songs in a 'life story'.

Tina : The Tina Tuner Musical fits into this second category, but what makes it stand head and shoulders above many others is that the Bullock/Turner's back story, as it unfolds here, is a dramatically gripping one.

Not surprisingly, Aisha Jawando as Tina is the absolute star of this show. She is just staggeringly mesmeric throughout.

For this production to work, the lead role demands she take us with her, emotionally, as Anna and then Tina struggles through the years to achieve ultimate and undiluted success.

As an actress, singer and dancer, Aisha achieves this magnificently, and with a presence as captivatingly large as that of the person she is portraying.

The finale, with the tremendous band, until then largely behind the scenes, provides a concert that gets everyone jumping out of their seats, stomping and cheering.

Some of the promotional material for this musical warns that Tina Turner herself does not perform.

With Aisha Jawando playing her, she does not need to.

Useful links

​ www.tinathemusical.com/uk