鈥淚t鈥檚 a compelling story with epic proportions,鈥� British director Phyllida Lloyd says. 鈥淎nd an Amazonian female heroine. With virtually every song a hit.鈥� Lloyd is talking about Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, which she directed first in London and then in its move to Broadway, where it officially opened November 7 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. The musical stars the critically hailed Adrienne Warren in the title role of the show about the troubled life and career of the iconic performer, and features 23 of her greatest hits, among them 鈥淧roud Mary鈥� and 鈥淲hat鈥檚 Love Got to Do With It.鈥�
Lloyd, 62, is best known as the director of both the stage and film versions of the mammoth musical hit Mamma Mia!, though she has had a long and distinguished career as a director of opera, classic theatre, in particular, Shakespeare. She was nominated for a best-director Tony Award in 2009 for Friedrich Schiller鈥檚 Mary Stuart, which began at the Donmar Warehouse in London and also garnered Tony nominations on Broadway for stars Harriet Walter and Janet McTeer. Her all-female Shakespeare Trilogy ofThe Tempest, Julius Caesar, and Henry IV for the Donmar Warehouse received critical acclaim in London and New York.
She reunited with McTeer for the all-female The Taming of the Shrew at the Public Theater鈥檚 Shakespeare in the Park. Her other stage directing credits for the Donmar include The Threepenny Opera and Boston Marriage. She directed Six Degrees of Separation, Hysteria, and Wild East for the Royal Court; The Rime of the Ancient Mariner with Fiona Shaw at the Old Vic Tunnels, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Epidaurus Festival in Greece; The Way of the World, Pericles, What the Butler Saw, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and The Duchess of Malfi for the National Theatre; and Artists and Admirers and The Virtuoso for the Royal Shakespeare Company. In film, she directed The Iron Lady, for which Meryl Streep (her Mamma Mia! screen star) won a 2012 best-actress Oscar for portraying Margaret Thatcher.
Lloyd spoke about Tina, how she directs, Shakespeare versus musicals, and her future plans.
Why she became a director:
鈥淚 started out wanting to be an actress, and I was absolutely hellbent on being on that side of the footlights. One day, somebody who was directing a play asked me if I鈥檇 be their assistant. And within about one hour of sitting on that side of the footlights I knew I wanted to be a director. I think it鈥檚 because I want to be responsible for the whole story, not just my part of the story.鈥�
Her directing principles:
鈥淢any, and they鈥檙e constantly evolving. Don鈥檛 worry if you haven鈥檛 found the solution. The solution will come, but maybe not until the last inch. Somebody much more famous than me, I can鈥檛 remember who it was, said that, 鈥橝 work of art is a journey of a million miles. The most important decision is made in that last inch.鈥� ... Be very well prepared, but as prepared to completely change your mind. And fight for as long a rehearsal period as you can possibly get. And do a lot of listening.鈥�
In the rehearsal room with an actor:
鈥淚 think that, at best, it鈥檚 like being with friends and family on an expedition. And you don鈥檛 have to be the one who鈥檚 got [the hand on] the tiller the whole time. Like a good parent, you want your spouse and your children to take the reins, often. So I would say I like collaboration. I like intimate friendship. And I like having fun.鈥�
Directing Shakespeare vs. directing musicals:
鈥淚t鈥檚 [essentially] just the same. The difference is that when directing Tina you have to make space in your schedule for the choreographer and the musical director to work their sides of the story. Therefore you don鈥檛 have quite as much time as you might have directing a Shakespeare. But it鈥檚 very similar. Shakespeare is like music, and just as you would pay scrupulous attention to every note of music in a musical, you pay scrupulous attention to every word of text in Shakespeare.鈥�
A mistake she made she learned from:
鈥淢any mistakes. And I hope I鈥檝e learned from most of them. I think my biggest mistakes have been made when the design process for a show has had to be concluded long before the rehearsals have unfolded and they have not kept pace with one another. So it鈥檚 taken me some years to reconcile the different rhythms of those two parts of the process.鈥�
The future:
鈥淚鈥檓 finishing work on a movie about which I鈥檓 obsessed and passionate and very excited. It鈥檚 written by Clare Dunne, who鈥檚 one of my actresses from the all-female Shakespeare. She played Prince Hal in my production of Henry IV. We鈥檙e hoping it鈥檚 going to be released next year. It鈥檚 called Herself, and it鈥檚 about a woman reconstructing her life after an abusive marriage by building herself her own house with her own hands in the middle of Dublin city.鈥� Co-written by Malcolm Campbell, it stars Dunne, Harriet Walter, and Conleth Hill.
Some closing words about Tina:
鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 done a theatre musical for 20 years, because I hadn鈥檛 found a story quite as compelling. I want audiences to feel they鈥檝e had the greatest night of exciting music theatre. And I want them to leave with hope 鈥� hope that Tina shows us that however bad things are, it鈥檚 possible to work yourself to happiness.鈥�
