'Soul Sister' Churchill Theatre **

What can I say about the current touring production of 'Soul Sister', the musical presentation of the life and times of Tina and Ike Turner? I must convey that this has to be one of the most horrendous productions I have seen this year. The plot is terribly woeful as you are taken on a journey abut singing sensation Tina Turner's life and the dialogue doesn't flow very well due to the awful scenarios created by Pete Brooks and John Miller. The acting is incredibly false and the singing is sung appallingly and the choreography is danced horrifically and this is continued throughout the entire performance. Jenny Fitzpatrick's portrayal of Tina Turner was highly disappointing as she seems to not be fully comfortable with performing the role. In addition to her performance her movements in the choreography sections were poorly presented and leads me to question whether the rehearsal period was taken seriously enough. Chris Tummings' performance of the troublesome and nasty Ike Turner has a lot to be desired as again it seems to be incredibly melodramatic at emotive and fight sequences.  As well as the performances by the whole company were lacklustre from beginning to end. I was very displeased by this. The shows designer Laura Hopkins has no understanding of musical theatre design whatsoever as the entire design is video projection and even this was not used to the best of its ability which is a serious shame. Even some scenes were fully video projected which is very lackadaisical. The shows direction is mediocre throughout as it seems poorly constructed as it seems no time in characterisation development was thought about and even rehearsal time wasn't used wisely at all. I feel that there have been a vast amounts of wasted creative decisions that could have made the production more of an enjoyable experience. But it seems to me that advertisement favours creativity whereas it should be the complete opposite. It feels like another 'Viva Forever!' and this leads to apprehension about musicals featuring current and available material. I tried to enjoy this show but unfortunately not. This is a show you should avoid at all costs.