Get ready to get on your feet and dance in your chairs and in the aisles. "On Your Feet! The Story Of Emilio & Gloria Estefan" is a show with a contagious Latin beat and the songs that you know and love. This biographical show allows the audience to peek into the past of Gloria and Emilio Estefan and see their love story come to fruition and their careers take off. The audience watches as the couple fights and perseveres through various obstacles in order to achieve their musical dreams.
What makes their story so compelling is that it embodies strength, determination and what it means to be an American. I am so glad that I saw this show when I did, given all of the hatred and political drama currently going on in our country. At times like these, we often forget what our great country stands for and what it means to be an American.
Gloria and Emilio Estefan are both immigrants who came here from Cuba when they were very young. Their families sacrificed and gave up everything they knew in order to come here and give their children a life filled with opportunities. When Gloria and Emilio met, they were two young people with a passion for music and a dream to become stars. They put everything they had into their craft and fought with all of their might to have their music be heard. While their music was originally geared towards the Spanish and Latin community, they wanted to be able to make songs that would combine their Latin traditions with American sound and English lyrics. This idea and new single, "Conga," was met with many rejections.
When Gloria and Emilio began fighting with their American music producer about his refusal to release a song of theirs in English, he told them they weren't American enough to make and sell such a song. He told Emilio that if he wanted to be American he would have to change his name; the name of his father and grandfather, his culture, and his family's history. This then elicited the most poignant line in the entire show, "You should look very closely at my face, because whether you know it or not...this is what an American looks like." As soon as Emilio delivered this line I found myself to be cheering, and I was not the only one. The show paused to allow the audience to applaud and cheer.
This exact moment, united all of us in that audience. It reminded us of what it means to be American. America is "the land of opportunity" for people of all races and creeds. It is a place for the dreamers and the fighters and the children of immigrants to make their dreams become a reality. Did Emilio and Gloria give up after this rejection? No! They fought twice as hard. They decided to try to get the song heard on their own. They went door to door with the record and played clubs for free if they promised to play "Conga." They sang their single at Bar Mitzvahs and weddings and finally got their music producer to agree to listen to it. When he did, he fell in love with it despite his originally hasty rejection. After this, Gloria's career skyrocketed. She and Miami Sound Machine went on a World Tour and she became the superstar that we know today.
The show is composed of two acts, and has a fifteen minute intermission. The first act introduces you to the characters and their backstories. You see Gloria and Emilio meet, begin their musical collaboration, and fall in love. You also get to see Gloria's home life and the struggles she faces when it comes to her family. This act is very lighthearted with lots of humor and upbeat musical numbers. The act ends with "Conga" being realized as a potential hit as the cast congas into the audience collecting people along the way. The second act, becomes a lot heavier and more emotional. Gloria is at the height of her career with her husband and young son by her side. They are busy touring around and Gloria begins to feel tired of living out of a bus and hotel rooms. This leads us to the devastating accident involving her tour bus and a tractor trailer in 1990. Gloria broke her back and had massive surgery which could have left her permanently paralyzed. This is where we see the true fighter in Gloria as she works her way out of a wheelchair, and ultimately makes her comeback at The American Music Awards.
The talented cast is led by Ana Villafane (Gloria Estefan) and Josh Segarra (Emilio Estefan). The show features songs such as "Conga,"1-2-3,"Anything for You, "Get On Your Feet, "Rhythm is Gonna Get You," and "Reach," just to name a few.
