For Grammy winner Ann Nesby, 'Tina' is a homecoming

Grammy-winning singer Ann Nesby is looking forward to a ginger-infused tonic from her daughter Jamecia Bennett, a fellow Grammy winner and force on the theater stage.

The two will see each other when Nesby lands in Minneapolis to play Tina Turner's grandmother in "Tina — The Tina Turner Musical," which opens a two-week run Wednesday at the Orpheum Theatre.

"Jamecia always has some kind of ginger drink to help me stay healthy and hydrated," said Nesby. "On a 30-city tour, things can get lonely along the way. But when you have your family out there, it's like having total support."

Her Twin Cities sojourn will be a homecoming for other reasons for the 67-year-old Nesby. She will see members of the Sounds of Blackness, the award-winning Twin Cities group she fronted three decades ago. Nesby also plans to spend time with powerhouse relative Shirley Marie Graham, at some of their favorite haunts.

"Tina" opened on Broadway in November 2019 but its run was interrupted by COVID-19 the following March. Still, it earned a Tony, with Adrienne Warren winning Best Actress in a Musical for her title role. Warren is not on the road but Zurin Villanueva and Naomi Rodgers, who play Tina, "are phenomenal," Nesby said.

The book of "Tina," written by Pulitzer winner Katori Hall, charts the struggles and triumphs of Turner, who was famously and tumultuously married to Ike Turner, a musical talent and an abuser. Songs from that era that are in the show include "Proud Mary," "Shake a Tailfeather," and "I Want to Take You Higher."

After Ike and Tina split, Turner became a rock icon in her own right with hits such as "What's Love Got to Do With It," "We Don't Need Another Hero" and "(Simply) the Best." Those songs are woven into the musical.

That she's playing Turner's Gran Georgeanna in this jukebox musical is apt for another reason, Nesby said. They have similar life stories.

"Having been a single mother and a woman who suffered abuse, seeing her struggle and how she overcame them inspires my heart," said Nesby. "Before I go onstage, I always have a prayer with the young people, telling them just imagine a little girl with this rags-to-riches story employing people all around the world."

In "Tina," both of Nesby's numbers offer encouragement to the young Tina at critical moments in her life. In the first act, Nesby's Gran Georgeanna duets with an elementary school-aged Tina after her parents have left and there's a dawning recognition of Tina's talents.

In the second act, Gran Georgeanna joins Tina on "Tonight" in a dreamlike sequence after she has left Ike and is striking out on her own to become the queen of rock 'n roll.

Bennett, her daughter, will be front and center when family by blood and faith gathers to see "Tina." That's not out of obligation, Bennett said, but honor and love.

Nesby is the matriarch of a family of notable performers. Her granddaughter Paris Bennett, Jamecia's daughter of "American Idol" fame, recently came off an acting role in Texas.

Performing is a ministry, Nesby believes, a way to share the gifts that have been given to her. "It's all God's, and you want to remember that in your walk."

Nesby also is mindful about her health. She does eight shows a week.

"People have this idea that it's glamorous to be on the road, and it can be sometimes," said Timothy Lee, Nesby's husband and manager. "But it's grueling. And if you care about what you eat, you're always trying to not take chances. But it's all worth it to see people get so excited and jazzed by the story."

Nesby agrees, saying that while "Tina" lifts the spirit of audiences, it's also inspiring to her and her fellow castmates. There is instruction at every performance.