On Your Feet! The Emilio & Gloria Estefan Broadway Musical (to give it the full proper title) ticks lots of boxes. Looking for a modern musical that isn’t sung through – that is to say, there’s lots of dialogue so it’s far easier to understand what’s going on? Yup. Thinking you’re needing some flash instead of dark, matte sets reminiscent of Industrial Age workhouses? Uh-huh. Bouncy music from a real, live band? Ooh, right there.
Technically, it’s a jukebox musical, based on the music of Gloria and Emilio Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine. But it doesn’t morph into the “And then we wrote…” school of musical theatre. True enough, it’s the story of two Cuban-born residents of Miami and their efforts to get their music to cross over for the general American audience. They succeeded big time, of course. The Cuban rhythms brought to American dance clubs worked incredibly well, and they’ve aged nicely, with a fine score and some incredible choreography. That means that it’s a dance musical as well.
Christie Prades plays Gloria, her acting giving us the shy teenager who wrote music and who’s tracked down by Emilio, Mauricio Martinez. She would eventually marry him, of course. The chemistry between the two is sultry, totally believable. Serious credit has to go to the casting of Nancy Ticotin as Gloria, Senior, her mother, and Alma Cuervo as Consuelo, her maternal grandmother. Not only are they excellent, it’s nice to see women of appropriate age cast as such and tearing it up with dancing and singing. Gloria, as a very young girl, is Amaris Sanchez, who sounds great; she alternates the role with Carmen Sanchez. Jordan Vergara – his alternate is Kevin Tellez – plays the young Emilio and a couple of other characters, including what has to be an extremely young (or short) bar mitzvah boy. The dude is a real twinkletoes and audience-pleaser.
Sergio Trujillo’s choreography for the show won a Tony. It’s easy to understand why, with such imagination and verve. If you’ve never seen a dance chorus hoofing in what appears to be Dr. Scholl sandals – well, be prepared. They excel in ways far beyond their footwear, their spines getting as much of a workout as their legs.
Another thing that some will need to be prepared for are the strobe lights. The show, not surprisingly, feels very concert-like at times, and lights are part of it. David Rockwell’s set lets us see the large house band, full of brass and percussion, some of the time. If they’re not having a good time, they’re as good at acting as the best of the cast. And the sound? Not as loud as it started out, fortunately. A little bit of muffled dialogue, but not much; they’ve worked diligently to adjust to the mammoth house that is the Fox. A delay in getting seated on opening night had to do with tech checks, rumor said, but it was worth it.
It’s a show that gratifies folks far beyond the original fan base of the Estefans and their group, great fun, happy music, swell dancing, and an overall good time. If you’re hanging back, don’t.
On Your Feet!
Through November 19
Fox Theatre
527 N. Grand
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