I’m Every Woman: The Chaka Khan Musical – not bad, just misguided

With 22 albums, 25 chart-topping hits, 70 million records sold and a career spanning five decades, 10-time GRAMMY® winner Chaka Khan has shaped the sound of generations across five decades.

If I’m honest, Chaka Khan is not a music artist I know particularly well. So, I’m Every Woman at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre was an appealing chance to discover the life and music of the Queen of Funk.

With Alexandra Burke leading the cast as the flame-haired singer, the show is playing to packed houses despite a wave of critical negativity and I went along to see for myself what it was all about.

The Story

I’m Every Woman starts with ambition, telling the untold story of one of music’s great artists. With her passion for civil rights, her defiance in the face of a toxic music industry, the harrowing road through addiction and the pressure of being a working mother – the story is there to be told.

We meet Chaka in rehab, in a therapy session with her family. Forced to confront the demons of her past before she can move forward. From there we are swept back through her early childhood and rise to fame, tracing the grip that drink and drugs took on her life and the voice on her shoulder that encouraged the worst choices, affecting not just her own world but her family’s.

There are moments here that could, and perhaps should, stop the show in its tracks but it skims past them, leaving the audience with just a hint of the story it promised to tell.

The decision to lean heavily on the music of other artists like Joni Mitchell, Prince, Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder is a strange one and perhaps the thought was that Chaka Khan’s own back catalogue couldn’t carry the full show on its own, leaving the musical uncertain of its own identity. And it spends close to three hours trying to figure out what it wants to be.

The Cast

Chrissie Bhima gives an award-winning, psychotic performance as Marie Stevens, providing the much-needed comedy to the show. Sophie Earl, as Joni Mitchell, steers well clear of imitation and makes the part her own. Jelani Munroe as Hassan Khan and later Luther Vandross has a mischievous twinkle in his eye and commands the stage.

The whole cast were a joy to watch and Alexandra Burke as Chaka Khan gave all of herself to her performance. Having seen the X Factor winner in several musicals, something in the back of my mind just felt she was slightly miscast in this role, like she was trying to channel the wrong energy into the character.

The Creatives

The set design is attractive, with beautiful projections and scene transitions that work cleverly, if somewhat repetitively by the end. The choreography is fun, blending seventies moves with modern-day street dance (I know nothing about dance so am probably wrong with the styles).

The Verdict

I’m Every Woman feels like a show at war with itself. It has a brilliant cast and creative team but it doesn’t quite know what story it’s trying to tell.

The show covers everything from her rise to fame, activism, addiction, challenges of being a woman in the music industry and navigating parenting with a career in the spotlight. It touches on all of these areas but never for long enough to develop any depth. Even the attempted murder of her second husband, Richard Holland, is seemingly laughed off.

For devoted fans of Chaka Khan’s music, this is a fun night out at the theatre. It isn’t a bad show, just misguided. Like a lot of shows I’ve seen lately, it feels like there is a more honest, more daring version out there somewhere that didn’t quite make it to the stage. I’d like to see that.

★★★

Reviewed by West End Wilma

I’m Every Woman is playing at Wembley Park Troubadour Theatre until 27 September 2026