When the Curtain Closes in ‘TINA,’ Life Doesn't Imitate Art | Sojourners

When the Curtain Closes in ‘TINA,’ Life Doesn't Imitate Art

Actor Garrett Turner on drawing a clear line between himself and the broken man he portrays.
Garrett Turner is dressed in a black suit playing an electric guitar as Ike Turner in the musical 'TINA: The Tina Turner Musical.' A black man in a blue suit is playing the keyboard in the background, where both men are flanked by a purple stage curtain.
Garrett Turner as Ike Turner / Matthew Murphy / Evan Zimmerman / Murphymade

BEFORE HE STEPS onstage as Ike Turner in TINA: The Tina Turner Musical, Garrett Turner (no relation) does a simple ritual: He swirls a wooden mallet along the rim of a Tibetan singing bowl. As the sound washes over him, he focuses on himself as Garrett, not Ike the musician and abusive ex-husband of the “Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll.” And he prays.

“Tina found Buddhism on her way to liberation from Ike, and it was something that Ike decried,” Garrett told me a few days after I saw him perform in Atlanta. Embracing something that Ike pushed away helps Garrett become Ike onstage while remaining Garrett within. With eight shows a week for the touring Broadway production, this spiritual practice helps Garrett draw a clear line between himself and the broken man he portrays.

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The cover image for the May 2023 issue of Sojourners, featuring an illustration of blue disembodied hands pulling white strings in various directions in the shape of the Enneagram symbol. The background is a mixture of bright colors of the rainbow.
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