The answer depends on how on much you're planning to leave your heirs.

First off, retirement accounts such as 401(k)s, 403(b)s, traditional and Roth IRAs, and others are indeed a part of your taxable estate.

However, unless the total assets of your estate plus any taxable gifts you've already given exceed the lifetime exclusion amount, the IRS can't touch a penny. In 2019, this is $11,400,000, and in 2020, the exclusion is rising to $11,580,000. If you add up the entire value of your assets, only the amount in excess of the exclusion will be taxable. In other words, if you have a $12,000,000 estate and pass away in 2020, just $420,000 of your assets would be subject to estate taxes.

As another example, if your assets (including your retirement savings) add up to say, $5 million, your heirs won't have to pay any estate tax at all.

However, although they may not have to pay estate taxes, it's important to remember that withdrawals from most retirement accounts -- with the exception of Roth accounts -- will be considered taxable income. So, estate tax or not, if your heirs are in a relatively high tax bracket, inheriting your retirement savings could certainly add to their tax bill.

Lastly, it's also a good idea to check with your state. Some states have their own estate taxes and have lower exclusions than the IRS.

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Ask a Fool: If I Leave My Retirement Savings to My Heirs, Will They Pay Estate Tax? - The Motley Fool

Many workers plan and save for retirement in the hopes that they'll manage to enjoy their golden years without financial stress. But if you're not careful, you could end up struggling during retirement despite all that forethought. Here are a few reasons why your golden years could end up costing more than expected.

Healthcare is one of seniors' biggest expenses, and the unknowns of it make it downright terrifying. But while it may be difficult, if not impossible, to get a precise estimate of what medical care will cost you in retirement, you can rely on the data that's out there. To this end, you should know that HealthView Services, a provider of cost-projection software, anticipates healthcare costing $387,644 throughout retirement for the average healthy 65-year-old couple leaving the workforce today.

IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.

Of course, that's just one number, but if you're planning to spend much less on healthcare, you could be throwing your entire retirement budget off course. The takeaway? Read up on healthcare estimates to get a sense of what you're in for.

Many older workers avoid buying long-term care insurance because they don't want to foot the bill for those potentially costly premiums. A long-term care policy, however, could save you thousands upon thousands of dollars in retirement if you wind up needing extensive care. Or, to put it another way, if you don't buy long-term care insurance, you could wind up spending $90,155 a year for nursing-home care, which is the current average price nationwide for a shared room.

Home health aides and assisted-living facilities aren't much cheaper. Currently, they average $52,624 and $48,612, respectively. That's why a long-term care insurance policy could really pay off, and the ideal time to apply is around your mid-50s. At that age, you're more likely to snag a competitive rate on your premiums, and to get approved for a policy in the first place.

Many seniors enter retirement with their mortgages paid off, and assume that their housing expenses will therefore be minimal. But if that's your plan, don't forget that as homes age, they tend to require additional maintenance and repairs. The result? More spending on your part.

Another thing to keep in mind is that property taxes have a tendency to rise, even if home values aren't following suit. And while there are programs in place to help seniors in this regard, they're generally reserved for lower-income households. In other words, prepare to see your property tax bill climb, and factor that into your anticipated retirement spending.

The income you have access to in retirement might come from a number of sources, many of which are taxable. Take Social Security, for example. Unless you're a low-income household, you can expect to pay taxes on your benefits at the federal level, and some states impose their own taxes on benefits, too.

Then there's your retirement savings. Unless you're housing that money in a Roth IRA or 401(k), your withdrawals will be subject to taxes, as will (in most cases) income you collect from a pension. And if you have cash in the bank accruing interest, or investments in a traditional brokerage account earning money, the IRS will come after its share of that as well. Therefore, understand what taxes you're in for during retirement, so you can budget accordingly.

The last thing you want to do is find yourself cash-strapped during retirement. In the course of your planning, read up on healthcare costs and taxes, plan for homeownership costs, and look into buying a long-term care policy. Doing so could help you make the most of your golden years and avoid financial troubles throughout.

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4 Reasons Retirement Might Cost More Than You Think - The Motley Fool

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After learning to appreciate fine French wine, I sometimes wonder if the whole exercise was a good buzz spoiled.

For years, I prided myself on not spending more than $10 or $15 on a bottle, and often less than that.

Then I decided to retrieve the French I had learned as a young man. I listened to French radio on the internet. And I began weekly breakfasts with a French friend, Patrick, that continue to this day.

Patrick had a cellar full of French wine, much of it good stuff. He had his own way of finding wine. He didnt pay much attention to the hype for specific vintages that floods the internet these days.

Instead, he kept track of the good years for wine production in prime growing areas like Burgundy or Bordeaux. When he spotted attractively priced wine from a good vineyard in a good year, hed buy a case of it.

Following his example, I began buying wine. I never went wild. The bulk of my wine was acquired at $15 to $30 a bottle. But I paid as much as $60 for a few bottles, something the old me never would have done.

Ive put the brakes on my wine buying in the past year. Part of it was a health concern. My doctor told me to cool it on acidic foods and drink. Wine, alas, is quite acidic. I still drink it but only for special meals (or when in France).

Money is another factor. Now that Im working part time in retirement, Im trying to slash costs where possible. Wine is expensive. At a fancy dinner, the wine frequently costs more than the food. This makes no sense.

But the biggest reason Ive stopped buying fancy wine is more basic. It wasnt clear to me that I really know the difference between the good and the great when it comes to the grape.

This spring, I drove around France with another French friend, Mathieu. Our best meal came in Lyon. We ate at a bouchon, one of the traditional Lyonnaise restaurants that specialize in hearty fare. It had a sign on its door proclaiming it opened at noon, and that if customers were in a hurry to eat, they should go elsewhere.

While we were pondering this, the door opened, and a disheveled man clutching a mug of coffee stepped outside. He said the restaurant normally required reservations, but since there were only two of us, he would make an exception.

Good thing. The meal was superb. It started out with grilled pigs feet and a huge block of pt that went from table to table. Then came a quenelle de brochet, or loaf made from fish, and a pot full of lentils and sausage.

We drank a table wine that the restaurant gave us for no charge. It was a local vintage made from the same Gamay grape as Beaojolais. It couldnt have been better.

From then on, I stopped fretting about the wine list in French restaurants. I usually ask for a glass of red or white, depending on what Im eating. The waiter almost always brings me something that does the job.

The French can be unromantic about wine. In 1976, I spent a month living with a couple, friends of my French grandmother, who lived north of Paris. The man, a retired stone mason, bought his wine in bulk for a few francs a bottle. He drank it mixed half and half with water. Drinking wine for him seemed as essential as breathing and about as fancy.

Patrick is a different breed. He has a T-shirt proclaiming: Life is too short for bad wine.

That doesnt necessarily mean expensive wine. He is clever about finding good wines at a cheap price. Several years ago, he was buying a surprising good 2005 Margaux for $25 a bottle produced by a famous vineyard under a different label. It was the equivalent of buying clothes at Nordstrom Rack.

My new bottom line is that almost any wine shared among good friends is a good wine. It doesnt particularly matter if the sharing concerns a $10 bottle or $100 bottle.

Questions? Comments Write to us at retirement@barrons.com

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Evolution of a Semi-Retired Oenophile: Its the People You Drink With, Not the Price, That Matters - Barron's

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While many Americans have little to no retirement savings at all,even young savers who do areperhaps too willing to draw from that stash to cover unrelated expenses.

A new survey from TD Ameritrade showed that millennials were more likely than either Generation X or Baby Boomers to tap retirement funds for non-pressing expenses, like vacations or taking a sabbatical from work.

More than half of millennials (53 percent) said they would draw from retirement savings to spend during a job loss, cover medical bills (52 percent) orcover their child's education (52 percent). Just shy of half said they would take pull from retirement savings to pay down credit card debt (48 percent), buy a house (47 percent), cover living expenses during a sabbatical (45 percent), cover living expenses during parental leave (45 percent) or make a move (45 percent).

More than 40 percent said they would do so to buy a car, pay for a vacation, cover wedding expenses or pay down education debt.

MILLENNIALS MAY SOON BECOME THE RICHEST GENERATION EVER

Molly Passantino, senior retirement specialist at TD Ameritrade, noted there are a variety of reasons why it is not advisable to withdraw funds if you can avoid it.

"There is typically a 10 percent penalty on the withdrawal (i.e. if you take out $100k, you really only get $90k),"Passantino said in a statement.

The penalty can be avoided if someone ispermanently disabled and cannot work, hascertain medical expenses, or hasa divorce settlement requiring the division of funds with a spouse or paying an IRS levy. Even under these circumstances, however, individuals will be taxed unless they are pulling from a Roth IRA.

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Americans overall saidthey were most likely to withdraw from their retirement accounts to cover medical bills (49 percent). That was followed by job losses (42 percent), as well as paying down credit card debt and covering a child's education (38 percent each).

Baby Boomers were the least likely to say they would withdraw from their retirement savings though the top expense was medical bills (48 percent). Only 30 percent of respondents said they would do so to cover a job loss or credit card debt, which were the next two likely expenses.

A majority of behind millennials (72 percent) thought they would be able to catch up on retirement savings, with about six in 10expecting to be able to retire by the age of 65.

The survey was conducted among 1,015 U.S. adults aged 23 and older with at least $10,000 in investable assets.

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Passantino recommends that individuals who anticipate having to withdraw from retirement funds for other expenses consider investing in an IRA, which allows withdrawals for certain payments. She noted, however, that people shouldn't make a habit of withdrawing from retirement accounts for other expenses.

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Millennials willing to tap retirement savings to cover basic expenses, study finds - Fox Business

American retirees aren't all flocking to Florida anymore instead, they're heading to places like Colorado, Nevada, and Alaska.

Retirement planner Jeannette Bajalia says that healthcare costs and taxes are going to be on retirees' minds as they plan moves in 2020 and beyond. "Healthcare costs are escalating both for routine medical costs as well as for long-term care," Bajalia told Business Insider. In deciding where to live, she said, "People will be looking for ease of access to, and affordability of, medical care."

Another big factor for people retiring in the new decade will be taxes. "I think most people will be relocating to more tax-friendly states where their money can spread, and instead of paying taxes, they can stay active longer and fund their lifestyles more effectively," Bajalia said.

Below, find 13 states that will likely become hot destinations for retirees over the next decade. These states had the largest growth in senior populations between 2007 and 2017, according to the Administration on Aging's data, pulled from the American Community Survey, and include traditional sun belt favorites like South Carolina, Georgia, and Arizona, but also tax havens like New Hampshire and Washington. While the data doesn't distinguish between residents aging into the senior population and newcomers relocating to the state, a significantly larger senior population is bound to make the area more welcoming to those who might want to move.

On this list, five of the 13 states don't tax income. And, many other states on this list have little to no income tax. Plus, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, many of these states have fairly affordable healthcare costs.

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13 places everyone will be flocking to for retirement in the 2020s - Business Insider

The fattest state in the country also sounds like a pretty great place to go out to pasture, if getting the biggest bang for your retirement buck is the priority.

According to BLS data cited by cost-estimating website HowMuch.net, Mississippi, at $617,661 in savings needed, is the most affordable state to spend your golden years. The average across the U.S. comes in at $904,452.

Of course, there are drawbacks to riding it out in Mississippi.

Along with the fattest crown, for instance, the Magnolia State also has the dubious distinction of the lowest life expectancy at 74.5 years. On the flip side, Hawaii, which is the most expensive place to retire, comes in at 81.5 years, the highest. The average life expectancy nationwide is 78.6 years.

HowMuch.net created this map to illustrate the findings:

As you can see, each state is colored a shade of pink the darker the shade, the higher the savings needed for retirement. Each state also has a purple circle with a size corresponding to the average retirement age in that state.

The average yearly expenses across the country for someone over the age of 65 is $51,624, but that figure comes in at $44,758 in the low-cost-of-living Mississippi and a whopping $99,170 on the other end of the spectrum in the Aloha State.

To account for a comfortable retirement, HowMuch.net added an extra 20% on those expenses, and then adjusted by each states cost of living index.

Regardless of where they live, most Americans are not saving enough in order to fund their retirement, HowMuch.nets Juan Carlos wrote.

Read: Americans are unprepared for retirement heres how to fix that

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Are you on track? This is how much it costs to retire comfortably in each state - MarketWatch

As a World Wrestling Entertainment superstar who's required to stay in fighting shape year-round, John Cena diet is "boring," he told Bon Appetit in 2018 he usually drinks four glasses of milk with four scoops of meal replacement protein powder for breakfast, for example.

There is, however, at least one exception to his healthy regimen: Before Cena performs, he anxiously eats his way through three boxes of Tic Tacs, he said on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" on NBC, Friday.

Downing the candy is his ritual.

"It's a nervous superstition that I always have before we go on a broadcast," Cena, a 16-time World Champion and one of the highest-paid wrestlers in the WWE, told Clarkson. He typically eats the Tic Tacs about 20 minutes before he has to compete on live television, he said.

"It's pretty much 10,000 calories in straight sugar," Cena said. (In reality, a single mint Tic Tac is only 1.9 calories, and a standard pack contains 60 Tic Tacs, so three boxes would be 342 calories. Plus, Tic Tacs are made with the sugar alcohol maltodextrin, not "straight sugar," as Cena said.)

Cena said the candy is a necessity, given that wrestlers compete in a "small, confined space."

"The ring is 20 by 20 feet, and you're with a group of guys, so you always want to try to smell your best," Cena said. The rigorous WWE touring schedule doesn't always allow for sleep or personal hygiene, so he turned to mints to keep his breath fresh.

In addition to Cena, many other professional athletes and successful CEOs have their own rituals or quirks that they say help their performance.

Retired NBA point guard Jason Terry would always eat fried or rotisserie chicken before games, for example. "I can't deviate from chicken," he told the The New York Times in 2013. "It has to be chicken."

Other rituals have nothing to do with food. Jeff Bezos has a pair of lucky cowboy boots that he wears when his space company, Blue Origin, has test flights. Similarly, tennis champ Serena Williams reportedly wore the same pair of socks throughout the course of a tournament, the The New York Times reported in 2013.

And golfer Tiger Woods always keeps three tees in his right pocket for good luck, and marks his golf balls with a quarter from the year his dad was born, 1932, he told Golf Digest in 2019.

Research actually supports these idiosyncrasies, even if they seem random. A 2014 study found that following a superstition or having a lucky charm improves people's self-efficacy, or their belief that they can perform. When people have higher self-efficacy, they tend to set more ambitious goals and persist at them.

Another 2018 study out of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University found that people take more risks when they engage in a superstitious act.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of NBC and CNBC.

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John Cena's 'nervous superstition' is eating 3 boxes of this candy before a WWE show - CNBC

CLEVELAND Just over two years ago, Gordon Hayward was stuck to the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse court after suffering a broken leg and a dislocated ankle.

Tuesday night, Hayward was stuck to the court for a different reason: he was downright unstoppable, and Brad Stevens couldnt take him off of it.

Hayward performed at a historic level during Bostons 119-113 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. He became the first player since the inception of the 3-point line to shoot 16-for-16 from inside the arc, and the first player since Wilt Chamberlain in 1967 to shoot 16-for-16 on 2-pointers, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

Thats worth repeating: first player ever, and first player since Wilt.

Hayward laughed in response to that first note and said, Seems like a pointless stat to me, but this performance was anything but pointless. It was, as Kemba Walker called it, nuts.

It was also monumental, because it stands as the latest and most overwhelming evidence that Hayward is no longer the former All-Star whos attempting to regain his old form. He is back, and believe it or not, hes actually better than ever.

Hayward has never been better than he was Tuesday night in Cleveland. He matched his career high with 39 points while setting a new personal mark for made field goals with 17. Hayward also dished out a season-best and game-best eight assists to go along with seven rebounds. In comparison, his other 39-point game as a pro featured three fewer made field goals, three fewer assists, and four fewer rebounds.

I think theres obviously been more opportunities this year, he said after the game, which was his third in six contests with at least 21 points. Were running some things that I am comfortable doing. As long as I keep attacking, not overthinking the game, being hesitative, I should be fine.

He was fiiiiine Tuesday night, as he made the right play nearly every time he touched the ball.

Clevelands defensive game plan was to stick to Bostons shooters and rollers, rather than to get the ball out of the hands of the ball handler. In many cases, that was Hayward.

This defensive tactic provided Hayward with consistent and high-quality driving and shooting lanes. He took advantage of those opportunities by painting an arc around the basket of made shots. He shot 9-for-9 on shots from eight to 13 feet, including two that came off of his patented plant-and-spin move.

Just kinda taking advantage of my size in the paint, Hayward said of those shots. I think its something I can get to if I stay under control and poised in there. But certainly, around the rim there, kinda with different floaters and leaners, slow-steps, things like that, is something Im pretty comfortable doing.

Stevens has seen Hayward play to that comfort zone quite often of late, and not only in games.

First of all, hes got that great ability to hit the floater, but he can also stop and do the little fade, and he shoots that all the time in practice, the coach said. Today, that was where he was living mostly.

Hayward was living his best life in the short mid-range, but what made him indefensible was that when that wasnt open, he made the right play for his teammates. The majority of his eight assists came off of perfect reads when the defense committed to him rather than to taking away his teammates.

They did eventually start trapping him, Stevens commented. He hit Rob (Williams) for a couple of those dunks, (Daniel) Theis a couple times. He played really well. Certainly, you always felt like you could get a bucket because of the way he was reading things today.

The Celtics got bucket after bucket while riding Hayward all the way to the finish line. He was dominant, he was historic, and he was downright unstoppable in Cleveland.

Following the performance, Hayward had only one request. It was sent to his teammates, who continued their custom that dates back to last season of showering him with water following a big-time performance.

Hopefully they can maybe stop dumping water on me, too, after every good game, he said with a smile.

Truth be told, with the way he has played this season, highlighted by his career-best performance Tuesday night on the court where he was devastatingly injured, they might run out of water if they try to continue that tradition.

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Hayward Dazzles with Historic and Career-Best Performance in Cleveland - Celtics.com

ST. HELENA ISLAND, S.C. Amid continuing attacks on her family, Jill Biden has a simple message for President Donald Trump: Stop it. My husband's going to beat you.

In an exclusive interview with NBC News on Monday, Jill Biden said that the efforts by the president and his Republican allies to draw her extended family into the campaign will backfire. But she also acknowledged that the attacks have gone beyond even what she expected.

The fact that he attacked my son, I have never seen that in other elections, that they go after children of the candidate, she said. He's just trying to distract the voters. You know what Donald Trump did was wrong, flat-out wrong. Calling a foreign leader and asking them and holding back foreign aid unless he investigated my husband, my son that is just flat-out wrong and I think that the American people see that, I think the people in Congress see that and they're going to stand up to him.

Her comments came as part of her first extended solo national interview of the campaign, as she stumped for her husband in this must-win state for the former vice president. And they come as the president and Republicans in Congress have called for Hunter Biden to testify in the House impeachment hearings beginning this week about his past business dealings in Ukraine.

By her own admission, Jill Biden was never a natural as a 'political spouse,' writing in her memoir released earlier this year that she preferred to stay in the background early in Joe Biden's political career and even more so when the national spotlight turned on them in 2008.

But there has been a marked change in her campaign trail performance as she shares more personal stories about her and her husband, surprising even him at an event in New Hampshire on Friday by talking about his family upbringing. Shes also shown a feistier side.

At a rally with her husband before the recent Iowa Liberty and Justice Celebration, she immediately launched into a story about the time she punched a neighbor who had been bullying her sister.

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I hate bullies, she said. Nothing make me angrier than seeing someone abuse their power to make others feel small.

On Monday, Jill Biden wouldnt go so far as to say Trump was a bully, but made it clear how she views him.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden are just polar opposites," she said. "And that's why I think people are looking for the qualities in a leader they want a strong leader, they want a resilient leader, she said.

In his long career, Joe Biden has cultivated a reputation for his authenticity. But former and current Jill Biden staffers universally describe her as a real person in a different context, noting both her reticence toward traditional politics, her occasionally rebellious and subversive sense of humor and her passion for Philadelphia sports and her own career.

As with her husband, sometimes that realness can backfire. She raised eyebrows this summer when she told an audience of Democratic and independent voters in New Hampshire that they might have to swallow a bit and support her husband even if they might like another candidate better.

Jill Biden said Monday that comment was misconstrued, as she spoke specifically to an audience who had already shared with her whom they were supporting. But she did say electability was still critical.

I think the beauty of our political system is that anybody can get in to run for president, but I think Joe is the best qualified. I think he's ready on day one. He's steady, he'll be a steady commander in chief. And he knows the job, he has experience, he's ready on day one, she said.

Biden downplayed her role as an adviser to her husband but made it clear she would continue to advocate on the issues important to her, especially education and veterans.

She decided this summer to continue her teaching career even as she expected to step up her time on the campaign trail. She will face another decision again soon about whether to continue in the spring semester, just as voters will be determining the nominee in primaries and caucuses across the country.

In 2009, she became the first "second lady" to continue her professional work into the White House. What Jill Biden is not yet clear about is whether she can do the same if her husband returns there as president.

How great would that be? What would that say about teachers? Wouldn't that lift up the profession and celebrate who they are? It would be my honor, she said.

Jill Biden says her time on the campaign trail has already affected her in ways she didnt expect. In her book, she describes struggling with her faith after Beau Bidens death, how it drew her husband closer to the church but pushed her away. But during a trip with her husband to a South Carolina church, she found surprising comfort in the experience.

I think so many people have prayed for me that I need to return that, that kindness to others as well. So I'm working my way back, she said.

But she added that she still thinks about Beau every day, including how this campaign might have been different if he had beaten cancer.

You know Beau was so involved in the process, he so wanted his dad to be president, she said. I thought maybe this could have been Beau's campaign.

Mike Memoli is an NBC News correspondent.

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Jill Biden's message to Donald Trump: 'Stop it. My husband's going to beat you.' - NBC News

Toward the start of a 1993 recording of Proud Mary, Tina Turnerwho, by then, had been performing the number for decades, across the globegives a charismatic, gently teasing forecast of the song to come.

Were gonna take the beginning of this song and do it easy. But then were gonna do the finish rough, she says. Thats the way we do Proud Mary. Her voice, sharp and feline and cunning, rushes forward, tossing each syllable into a fast-moving current, until she stops to hold a choice wordeasy; roughup to the warm light of her attention. Her diction, in its variance, mirrors what shes disclosing about the song. Somehow the road map does nothing to dissipate the impact of the moment when the rolling thrum of guitars that dominates the first half of Proud Mary gives way to horns blasting out that melodic line, and the mental image of Turner spinning in tight circles, wig ablur, arms tutted out like twin cranes, tassels floating away from her body, arrives. What we lose in tonal and rhythmic suspense we gain in a more primal kind of anticipation. Yes, it will get rough, eventuallybut when, and just how rough?

A similar thing happens when we hear Turners life story. Most of us know it in its broadest contours. Born Anna Mae Bullock, as a child she picked cotton on her familys sharecropping farm, in Nutbush, Tennessee, and pined for her mother, who fled Turners abusive father. In the first two decades of her career, her success was linked inextricably with her musical partner and husband, who physically abused her. The question, when the story is being told onscreen or onstage, is never whether these vicissitudes will be included but how brutally, and to what representational end.

Even when Turners music is part, or most, of the promised packageas it is in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, up now at the Lunt-Fontanne, directed by Phyllida Lloyd, with a book by Katori Hall, Frank Ketelaar, and Kees Prins, and with seriously impressive choreography by Anthony Van Laastits her life that delivers the dramatic shape expected from art: tension and release, fall and climb, pain and possibility. This makes Turner perhaps singular among pop artists. Usually we have to employ a kind of textualismcombing lyrics and gestures for a corollary in realityto assign to our stars moral, cultural, and political values. Or an artist makes bold-sounding declarations, or endorses electoral candidates, or embraces high-profile causes. With Turner, even given all the innovation found in her records, the triumph is located in the life; her status as a feminist hero is stubbornly extramusicalit lives somewhere much past art, and beyond statements.

Its a paradox, then, that it was a pop-cultural representationthe 1993 movie Whats Love Got to Do with It, starring Angela Bassett as Turnerthat made Turners political importance clear to generations too young to have tracked her entire career, and made her iconography complete. For more than two decades, Bassett, whose performance as Turner is perhaps the most brilliant and haunting of her career, has dominated the collective imagination with respect to Turner, and, in many ways, has made Tina Turners art a mere corollary to Anna Mae Bullocks life. Turners most famous songsProud Mary, Whats Love Got to Do with It, Simply the Bestnow sound to my ears like autobiographical anthems, meant as a score instead of a corpus of their own.

The great benefit of this situation is clear: we learn from lives, and every saint needs a story. But, because Turners canonization has proceeded within the limits of commercial entertainment, her life often seems at risk of being objectified in the way that can happen with a song, or a scene from a blockbuster. Whenever I hear the rapper Jay-Z, in a guest verse on a song by his wife, Beyonc, flippantly drone, Eat the cake, Anna Maea line from Whats Love Got to Do with It that comes during one of the movies most humiliatingly violent momentsI recoil. I wonder if the magic of the moviesthe semi-permanent stamp that some pictures make on the mindmight chip away at Turners hard-earned gravitas, just as surely as, initially, it helped build her myth.

Tina, a genuinely entertaining jukebox musical with some trouble at its edges, has this odd, precariously balanced mixture of life and art, politics and spectacle, as its burden. Maybe its creators were wise, then, to organize the story around Turners religious experienceher childhood in the rural black church, her turn to a lifelong, cherished Buddhism. The show opens with a temporal swirl: the adult Tina (Adrienne Warren) sits wearing a Corvette-red leather dress, her back to the crowd, rasping out a mantra, as her very young counterpart (a charming Skye Dakota Turner, no relation to Tina) sits through a jubilant musical number at church, unable to restrain her voice, despite the chiding of her mother. Skye Dakota Turner is a wonderfully vivid performer; theres humor in every facial move and bodily gesture, and she sings with precocious, echoing focus, like a bird perched on a cathedrals upper balcony.

That opening image, whose surrealism gives way to a more or less straightforward, chronological slide down the time line of Tina Turners life, feels like an attempt to reunify Turner and her work, and to give a hint as to their source. Some soul-deep fountain produced both. Tina grows up, and Warren, a powerful singer and song interpreter whose reputation deserves to grow after this performance, takes over. She gives little glimmers of impersonation, especially when she sings, but mostly avoids distracting mimicry.

The trouble comes when this musicals version of Anna Mae Bullock meets this musicals version of Ike Turner (Daniel J.Watts). The real Ike Turners very namethrough a pop-cultural process not unlike the one that turned Tinas into an emblem of long-suffering resilienceis now almost synonymous with cowardly violence and petty bullying; his pioneering role in the development of rock and roll has been all but eclipsed by his notoriety as a sadist. Nobody mentions Ike and means to refer to the Fender bass named for him. But here, somehow, likely because Warren is so good, and because the songsmostly note-for-note renderings of the well-known recordingskeep on coming, Ike comes off more as a comic buffoon than as a real menace. I dont think this is due to any odd intent on behalf of the shows producers but, rather, to the distorting imperatives of mass entertainmenttell the story, but keep it light.

Everybody knows, even before he shows up, that Ike is the villain in the Tina Turner story. On Broadway, under what looks like a thousand lights, in front of a crowd impatient to cheer, this makes him a chintzy Big Bad Wolf. Then, too, Watts, the poor actor tasked with this role, has an irremediably friendly face and funny aspect. From afar, he looks and moves a bit like Eddie Murphy, and, when I saw the show, he sometimes, at the most despicable moments, garnered what seemed to be accidental laughs.

For the most part, the show is fun. The songs sound good, and nobodys high opinion of Tina Turner will be negatively affected. Very much to the contrary, Warrens performance, which sometimes veers happily into an outright concert, is a two-and-a-half-hour-long hosanna. But I couldnt help hoping that, in the long run, Turner will be given her true due, her personal history plumbed for its deepest applications. This great theatrical rendering of her life might come only when living memory of Turner as an entertainer has faded, and her bright intensity as an archetype can shine through, unhindered by obligatory applause. The mood will be classical. Nobody will think to hope for a good time.

More:
The Legend of Tina Turner - The New Yorker