Sterling Baker McClary and Elaina Walton in "Tina - The Tina Turner Musical" coming to the Adrienne Arsht Center opening on Tuesday, Jan. 14. (Photo by Julieta Cervantes)
Elaina Walton grew up in Gainesville, Fla., where she went to F.W. Buchholz High School, then headed off to college to the University of West Florida, where she got her bachelor's in theater, then pursued a master's degree in acting from the University of Florida.
Now she's on her first Broadway National Tour and heading to Miami in "TINA – The Tina Turner Musical" playing the Queen of Rock and Roll's mother Zelma Bullock.
miamiartzine.com interviewed Walton during a stop with the show in Norfolk, Va. "TINA – The Tina Turner Musical" written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Katori Hall comes to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami on Tuesday, Jan. 14 through Sunday, Jan. 19.
miamiartzine.com: How long have you been touring with TINA – The Tina Turner Musical"?
Elaina Walton: I've been with the show since August. Before that I was in "Detroit 67" at Marietta's Theatre in the Square and I also teach at Alliance Theater.
Elaina Walton is from Gainesville, Fla.., and is touring in "The Tina Turner Musical."
maz: You play Tina Turner's mother Zelma Bullock. Tina's real name was Anna Mae Bullock. What do you love about this role?
EW: As an actor it is awesome to play a role that has so many layers and it is so complex. This character adds to the overall arc and story of Tina Turner in such a significant way. So as an actor it has been a wonderful opportunity to just be able to explore all of those different avenues as far as Tina's mother and her life. We have so many members of our creative team who have been with the show since it originally was devised in London. The show, all the details and the overall story was approved by Miss Turner. So pretty much the script itself is a clear depiction of who this person was. And then, of course, you know, you have Tina Turner's biography, and other biographical works have been made about her. So all of those tools were at my disposal.
maz: I have seen the musical previously but this will be the first time I'll see it since Tina Turner passed away in May of 2023 at the age of 83. So I'm almost thinking it will feel like a tribute.
EW: I think that is something that all of us as a cast feel; this great sense of responsibility and privilege and being able to tell a story, to engage in storytelling that not only is very compelling in the way that it's written and the way that it's presented, but also that is about a real person, a total icon, a total legend. We are able to honor her in telling her story but also by way of continuing to share her music.
maz: When did you realize you wanted to be a performer?
EW: I consider it a huge privilege within my upbringing that I grew up in a time and space where extracurriculars, art studies, was very much encouraged. But I grew up with a goal of being an attorney and then by the time I got to high school I was set on being an OB-GYN, even though I always had a love and affinity for the performing arts, it was something I enjoyed.
maz: So when did that change?
EW: I remember being around 11 years old and I was watching the Tony Awards and Bernadette Peters and Gregory Hines were hosting and it was the year that Sutton Foster was in the cast of the revival of "Thoroughly Modern Millie." I recorded it and I watched it over and over again because there were all these actors and all these artists in performance and I know I had a feeling that at some point I want a piece of that. I want to be a part of that. I guess I just didn't know how you would do it.
maz: Did you have more exposure to theater then?
EW: When I was in high school, I was on the speech and debate team and I competed in interpretive. And as a freshman I made it to Nationals. My teacher, my coach at the time, wanted me to get some extra coaching for nationals, so I had coaching from a drama teacher. He told me he had auditions coming up for a musical in the fall and told me he wanted me to audition. I said to him, "Oh, that is so nice, sir, but I am very much doing my own things.'"And then he said he if I didn't agree to audition he wasn't sure he could make the extra time to coach me.
Jayna Elise is Tina Turner in "Tina - The Tina Turner Musical" coming to the Adrienne Arsht Center as part of the Broadway in Miami series. (Photo by Julieta Cervantes)
maz: So you auditioned and did you get a role?
EW: Yes, as Nehebka in "Aida." And then from there I was bitten. And I was reminded of this love that I had. And then I wasn't sure I wanted to go to medical school in the future or not, but I did know I loved acting. I changed my electives, I changed everything, and I've been riding the ride ever since.
maz: Is there something that you've discovered being on your first Broadway National Tour?
EW: You get to travel and you get to travel with amazing artists and there are people from all over the country. We have representation from almost every state we go to and that is wonderful. Yes, you miss home, but our entire company as a whole, we take care of each other and look out for each other. So to work and feel supported is truly a blessing.
maz: Is there something you feel that you bring to the role of Zelma that maybe someone else wouldn't?
EW: I try to stay honest and true to the story that was written for me by an amazing playwright, in this case, Katori Hall, who is just a phenomenal writer and person. What I've been able to read of her and see of her and the work that she does and the art that she makes, the characters are written beautifully. They speak as real people do. And I try to always just stay honest to what is given to me because that's being true to someone else's art. Just keep the art at the work at the center of it, respect it and stay true to it.
maz: You are a playwright, too, so I can see where you are coming from with that. Are you still able to write even though you're on the road?
EW: Yes, I am still writing. One of my works I'm really proud of just had a reading at the Atlanta Black Theater Festival and was also featured in the new work season called the Incubator Project at (Atlanta's) Synchronicity Theater and I'm in the process of submitting it to others. The title of that is "A Play Formerly Known As . . ." I have two other plays in development, one is a one-woman show that I am devising out of a year long audio journal I did called "Blaxcellence365." And the other one is a two person play, "YOKED."
maz: In your bio in the playbills, it reads. "She gives all her love and dedicates all her work to her brilliant, little scientist."
EW: That's my daughter who is 8 and she is a beautiful, young lady and she is all about Earth and Space science. She wants to be a doctor who travels on every mission to space when she grows up. She has two chemistry sets at home and just loves it. She said that's what she wanted to be when she was three years old and she has stuck by it ever since.
maz: Where is your home now?
EW: I live in Altanta but I do go back and forth to New York. Maybe one day I will live there.
maz: Do you have any connections to South Florida?
EW: I do have friends who have become family in South Florida but I consider the entire state of Florida to be just one big home to me.
IF YOU GO
- WHAT: "TINA – The Tina Turner Musical"
- WHEN: Tuesday, Jan. 14 through Sunday, Jan. 19
- WHERE: Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
- TICKETS: $35, $45, $75, $105, $125, $145
- INFO: 305-949-6722 or www.arshtcenter.org/tickets.
