[ad_1]
Naomi Rodgers used to be traveling with the musical “Frozen” when the textual content message arrived.
“Hello, do you assume Tina is for your wheelhouse?” her agent requested, regarding the mythical Tina Turner, winner of 12 Grammy Awards.
Even though slightly unfamiliar with the Tina Turner tale, Rodgers, 23, submitted an audition tape . Then, someday later, she landed the signature position of your younger occupation, enjoying the long-lasting singer/actor in a touring manufacturing of “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” which opens Tuesday at Charlotte’s Belk Theater.
Rodgers stocks the position with Brooklyn, New York, local Zurin Villanueva.
Loose Publication
Keep knowledgeable with information and occasions that affect Charlotte’s Black communities.
Two performers are wanted, Rodgers stated, to offset the bodily calls for of being on level for greater than two hours whilst appearing with regards to 20 songs.
“I feel that’s the best phase concerning the revel in, since the target market does now not know who they’re going to see,” she stated all through a phone interview. “They’ve the chance to come back again and notice a distinct display. She’s from Brooklyn, so you were given Brooklyn Tina, and you were given Virginia and North Carolina Tina.
Rodgers has toured with the display in six towns, together with Washington, D.C., the place the target market “surely confirmed out,” she stated.
Rodgers has been making a song on level for almost part her existence. At age 12, she auditioned to sing “House,” from the musical “The Wiz,” at a small theater in Elizabeth Town.
“They referred to as me like that very same week and informed me they sought after me to sing ‘Your Daddy’s Son,’ from ‘Ragtime,’” she recalled. “That used to be the primary tune ever that helped me understand that musical theater used to be the end-all-be-all for me.”
Rising up, Rodgers sang along with her father and sister at church and at more than a few occasions round the town, she stated. Her mom, a pastor, beloved to entertain and act, however by no means as a certified.
On this approach, Rodgers stated, her mother lives vicariously thru her Broadway-star daughter.
It used to be her mom who took a tender Naomi Rodgers, age 12, to peer her first musical manufacturing, “The Song Guy” and days later signed her up for her first audition.
In 2017, Rodgers graduated from New York Town’s American Musical and Dramatic Academy. A yr later, she landed a task in Hilton Head, South Carolina in a manufacturing of the musical “Legally Blonde,” starring because the chipper sorority lady Elle Woods.
Rodgers says she’s excited to come back to North Carolina as Tina Turner and hopes to connect to native universities to ascertain theater outreach systems.
Within the Q&A under, Rodgers’ solutions have been edited for period and readability.
How do you get into persona to play the position of Tina Turner?
You at all times wish to be in excellent spirits earlier than going into this position, as a result of it may be emotionally laborious. You wish to have so that you can be provide and connect to it (the nature), so I at all times ensure I’m blasting some song. I’m an enormous fan of Motley Crue, so I play their song earlier than I’m going on simply to get into the rock ‘n roll mind-set.
Had been you conversant in Tina’s existence and paintings earlier than starring on this musical?
I knew about Tina’s paintings, however I by no means knew about this tale. I at all times knew concerning the traumatizing portions of her existence, which is what everyone knows about, unfortunately. If I’d have identified about her existence after Ike, it might have modified my belief of her. Tina had such a lot of individuals who influenced her, driven her and remained by means of her aspect. This tale must be informed, as a result of there’s such a lot of different vital issues that took place but even so her ache.
Have any of your members of the family come to peer you? If this is the case, what have been their reactions?
My mother got here to peer me in Windfall, Rhode Island, however I had in fact blown my voice out so my opening night time used to be now not the best way I sought after it to head. I used to be feeling down, however she referred to as me and used to be like, “I stated I wasn’t gonna cry, however you have been superb.” I’ve by no means heard my mother say anything else like that to me in my existence, and she or he had by no means cried to me. She additionally got here to peer me in D.C., and her and my sister had been my greatest supporters.
What’s your favourite Tina tune since being on this position, and why?
It switches each different day, however as of now, it’s “I Can’t Stand the Rain.” Tina, in that tune, has an excessively distinct sound. You’ll in point of fact listen her permutations and the way she performs along with her voice.
Have you ever met Tina but?
I’ve despatched her movies and informed her satisfied birthday, however I’ve now not been ready to speak to her but.
If you were given the risk to fulfill her, what would you inform her?
I’d thank her for her tale, as a result of I perceive, for some time, why she didn’t wish to inform her tale. I’d inform her that with out her voice and sound, there can be no me on this display. There’s now not a large number of voices that sound like mine, as a result of I’ve an excessively raspy voice. And I’d just need her to be my therapist for a minute and inform her about my issues so she will lend a hand me.
[ad_2]
