Tina Star Adrienne Warren On Bucking Up and Triumphing as Music Icon and Survivor Tina Turner

In the decade she's been on the scene, Adrienne Warren has been checking off the boxes that lead to stage stardom. Showy debut in a classic musical? Check! (Lorell in the Broadway-worthy tour of Dreamgirls that landed at the Apollo Theatre.) Broadway debut in high-energy fresh new musical featuring A+ creative team? Check! (Danielle in Bring It On: The Musical on tour and at the St. James Theatre.) Breakout Tony-nominated turn in little-seen highbrow critical smash? Check! (Gertrude Saunders and Florence Mills in Shuffle Along at Music Box Theatre.) And now the biggest checkmark of all: Earning raves for pulling off an epic stage turn in London that is now poised to be the most talked-about performance of the fall season. The role is Tina Turner and the show is Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. Broadway.com sat down with Warren to find out what it’s like to go from dancing in your mom’s heels to “Proud Mary” as a kid to actually doing it in a multi-million dollar stage musical—not to mention in front of Tina Turner herself.

How does it feel to be on the cusp of a big year? I mean, you're about to play Tina Turner on Broadway!
It’s gonna be a thing! You know what? I love London, but there’s no place like New York. I’m so happy to be home and sharing this show. So let’s go!

You’ve been living with this role for a while now. Even before the London run.
I did the very first table read back in 2016 right after I did Shuffle Along on Broadway. Then I did one workshop in London, and I thought, "Oh, this is over. They’re going to cast Beyonce. Like, this is never happening!" And then I went and did a few pilots that did not get picked up. Luckily they didn’t get picked up because I was available to do the show! My agent was like, "You’re not moving to LA, you’re moving to London!" That’s what happened.

The show is a sensation in London, and you got raves and received a well-deserved Olivier Award nomination. How do you describe the whole experience of launching the show there?
It was insane because I’d never really been there before so to be in a completely different world, far away from your family and friends… And then doing this monster of a show. I’m not gonna lie—it was a little bit tough. It was tough because the show is physically demanding, it’s vocally demanding and you’re doing fight choreography between every dance number. It required so much of me, so to not have my support system with me was rough. But I’m grateful and full of joy to be on the other side of that now because I'm home and my support system is here.

Is it safe to say you came back to New York a different woman?
I did—fully cut my hair! [Laughs.] Yeah, I did come back a different woman. We grow as we get older, but I think I did evolve from being far away from my comfort zone. And spending so much time alone, whether it was working out or training or resting. I was actually able to hear myself think. And being away from home during very tense political and social times was a bit of a breath of fresh air. I learned a lot in that time, about myself as an entertainer and a person.

This is a monster of a role. After seeing you perform it in London, I was surprised by how chill and relaxed you were backstage immediately following your curtain call. Did you ever doubt you’d be able to pull it off? And does it feel like you conquered a mountain now knowing you did?
The funny thing is, every time I’ve gotten a job on Broadway, I thought, "I can’t do this." For my Broadway debut, I was playing a cheerleader in Bring It On. Never cheered in my life and they were asking me to stand on somebody’s hands and belt a high C. I was afraid of heights before that show! So I had to conquer a fear there. And then the second show was Shuffle Along, where I was doing two voices and dancing Savion Glover’s choreography. I can’t do that! Well, guess what? Train for a year and a half to do it and maybe you can. When I got this job, I remember my dad saying, "Oh, no. You can’t do that!" Because he’s the biggest Tina Turner fan ever. And I looked at him and I was like, "What do you mean I can’t do that?" But he was serious. He said, "You just trained your body to be a jazz singer from the ‘20s. Now you’re going to be Tina Turner?!" But I think hearing him say that motivated me to be the strongest Adrienne I could be, and that would be enough. Coming home is like the finish line for me. When they told me it was going to make it to Broadway, I was like, "Oh my gosh. How did I do it?"

Sometimes Broadway performers can be the work horses that help create something and then wind up watching a name play the part. You joked about Beyonce getting the part. Because nothing is guaranteed, do you have to temper your emotions with roles, and not get too attached?
It’s true. When I did the workshop, I used that as my audition because I thought, "I’m just gonna give it my all." I showed up in some brains, as far apart from Tina as you can imagine, but showed them that I was willing to do the work. She means so much to me, as a fan. I’m a fan first. And my parents are fans. I used to take my mom’s nylon stockings out, put on her high heels and stomp around the house and pretend like I was Tina Turner before I could really even tie my shoes. I knew what a responsibility this is. So I figured as long as I showed up and did the work… Then you just have to throw the rest up and leave it to God, or whoever you believe in the universe, and just say, "If I’m supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be here."

Did you have to initially audition for the table read?
No. I got a phone call from my manager and she said, "Will you go pick up this script from this office? You’re just going to do a table read." And I was like, "So what is it?" And she said, "Just go pick up the script." I walked into the office, grabbed the script, opened it and it said, "Tina: The Tina Turner Musical." And I looked at them and said, "What would you like me to read for?" I thought I’d be her sister or the girl down the street. And they said, "Tina." I thought, I can’t be Tina Turner! I’ve gotten rid of all my muscle mass playing a girl from the ‘20s [in Shuffle Along], singing like a bird. I didn’t understand how anyone could think I could do this. And I remember our musical director Nick Skilbeck was at the reading and he said, "If you know any of the music, could you just like sing a little bit of it when we get to that point?" And I just started belting out "We Don’t Need Another Hero." And everyone was like, "I’m sorry, what?!" Cause this is my joy! I’m a rock and roll kid. Not a lot of people know that, but I started in this industry touring with Trans-Siberian Orchestra with Steven Tyler from Aerosmith! I did all that before theater!

Tell us about your first meeting with Tina herself.
It was at the workshop. The producer, Tali Pelman, asked me if I wanted to meet her before the presentation, but I said no. So the first time I actually saw her was while I was playing her. And I didn’t look at her during the presentation until I got to "Proud Mary" because I thought, "You know what? If this doesn’t go any further, I want to be able to one day tell my grandkids that I played Tina Turner in front of Tina Turner and she wasn’t, like, repulsed by it." And she was singing along with me! Then I was like, "Nah, you cool. We will be fine." And at the end, I was just bawling. And I just fell to my knees and bowed down to her. And she just held me and hugged me. And I think the first thing I said to her was, "Was it tough for you to watch this?" Because it’s a lot, it’s deep. And she goes, "No, you got the hard job now. I already did it." And she was not kidding. It is tough. But, you know what? I’m just telling the story. She actually lived it. Every time I think it’s tough, I’m like, "Buck up, pull up. Let’s go."

Now you have an ongoing relationship. How does it feel to have her in your life?
It’s really, really awesome. She cares so deeply and really wanted to teach me and put me through my paces. It took me a while to fully get her approval. You can see how much it means to her. And I think this show has helped her and healed her as well. I love her so much. They say never meet your heroes, but man, she’s so everything. And she’s so full of light and love. You can’t believe someone who has been thorough so much darkness can be so full of light and love. It’s inspiring to every one of us and I think that’s why the show works and why it resonates so deeply. You walk away feeling bigger than you were walking in. We all go through our ups and downs, but hers are such extremes. There are times she would tell me to watch a video on YouTube and she’d be like, "You see that ring under my eye? That’s a black eye." [Ike Turner] would literally punch her and push her onstage. And you would never see a tear, or see her energy drop. She would just keep up—she’s perseverance personified. The great thing about our show is you get to learn about her as a daughter, a mother, a performer, a Buddhist and the woman who was broken and had to actually put herself back together.

We also get to learn about her as a hair icon…
[Laughs.] It’s true! There’s a lot of hair. It’s funny because Tina really cared about the hair more than anything else. At one point, she even wanted to send me her wig! She was like, "Wait a minute, Adrienne. I’m gonna send you one." I was like, "I can’t actually wear that in the show!" She made her wigs herself. She would take wigs and flip them upside down. And she did her costumes herself. She made that look. A lot of people don’t know that the person she looked up to stylistically was Jackie O. She is style to a T. No matter where she goes. She said, "Adrienne, it matters how you look. When you come out of the stage door even." And I was like, "So you’re saying I can’t wear my sweats, even if I have a cute boot with it?" [Laughs.] But it matters. That’s how everybody used to be back in the day. I missed that class!

Tina has spent much of her career away from America. How does it feel to bring her story to Broadway?
Tina is going to turn 80 this year. To get to bring her and her legacy home in this way is unbelievably special. I really want her to see how much she’s loved here. That’s the most important thing for me. This show is about her. I don’t care what anyone says about my performance—I would never put my name anywhere near hers. I don’t think I would be the artist I am if there were not a Tina Turner. We would not have a Rihanna if there were not a Tina Turner. We wouldn’t have a Beyonce if there were not a Tina Turner. So she needs to see that love more than anything. That’s the most important thing.

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical starts October 12 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

Photos by Caitlin McNaney for Broadway.com

Shot on location at The Honey Well in Harlem, NYC. Styling by Sarah Slutsky (clothes by Camilla and Mark, Retrofete, New York Vintage, Agolde, Giuseppe Zanotti and Rag & Bone; shoes by Sophia Webster and Manolo Blahnik; jewelry by Jennifer Fisher, Luz Ortiz and Accentuate); Hair by Takisha Sturidge; Makeup by Carolina Gonzalez.