On Thursday, October 26 the McCoy Rigby Entertainment group presented the musical “On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan” at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. The show followed Cuban-American singer Gloria Estefan’s rise to fame alongside her husband Emilio Estefan, a Cuban-American musician and producer with the Miami Sound Machine band.
“On Your Feet!” opens with Gloria Estefan’s character, played by Gaby Albo, singing and dancing “Que Siga la Canción” in a laundromat alongside girls in blue and purple dresses and men in striped shirts and tan hats. Soon, Gloria vaults to a much bigger stage when a representative from the Miami Latin Boys band invites her to sing and dance with their group.
The 17-year-old singer is afraid to try, but her grandma tells her that with her singing talent, she should get used to the attention. After her grandma coaxes her to go and play, saying there is no use writing songs that are never heard, Gloria sings her song “Anything For You” at the Miami Latin Boys band practice. The group, led by Emilio Estefan, is stunned by her voice and songwriting ability. Emilio invites her to join and she accepts.
After producing a new record, the Miami Sound Machine band members popularize their music by getting friends to drive around blasting it in their cars. Emilio and the group agree to play for nothing if the clubs play their record for people to hear. Emilio is willing to try anything — the Miami Sound Machine sings at a bar mitzvah, a wedding and a convention to get its music out into the world. Slowly, more offers start to trickle in and, after dancing the conga line in Las Vegas, the group’s music starts to take off.
With Gloria’s meteoric rise come several points of tension throughout the musical. Gloria’s mother, Gloria Fajardo, grows impatient as her daughter rushes off to yet another tour. Fajardo reminds her daughter that while she plays her music around the world, Fajardo has to stay home and take care of her disabled husband. Another struggle arises when Gloria and Emilio want to cross over from Spanish music to English, and their agent encourages them to keep singing only Spanish songs because of their success in Latin pop music.
The Estefan’s’ lowest point, however, comes after Gloria is gravely injured in a horrific car crash and has to re-learn how to walk again. Fajardo reappears in this part of Gloria’s life and seeks to mend her relationship with her daughter in the hospital. After that wound is healed, Gloria has to focus on physical recovery. It is Gloria’s own stamina and determination to keep going, coupled with Emilio’s undaunted enthusiasm and encouragement for Gloria to get back to performing, that drives her to persevere through excruciating pain and agonizing physical therapy.
After receiving thousands of letters from fans telling her how much she means to them and imploring her to sing again, Gloria triumphantly returns to the stage. The musical ended with a thunderous roll of drums coupled with red and blue flashing lights that celebrated Gloria’s successful comeback.
After the show, audience members stayed for a Q&A session with some of the cast. A few of the actors talked about meeting Gloria Estefan when performing the show’s world premiere in Spanish. The cast discussed the strain involved with performing “On Your Feet!” amid a hectic schedule, which includes eight-hour bus rides, quick overnight stays in hotels and then more travel soon after. While doing the same show night after night may sound monotonous, the cast explained that art has many layers and that each night, the dancers and actors discover something new.
The “On Your Feet!” national tour will continue in Greeley, Colorado on November 28, then the cast will head to Oklahoma City and Manhattan, Kansas for further performances in November and December.
Upcoming shows at the La Mirada Theater include “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” which will run from November 10 through December 3 and “Mystic Pizza,” a show featuring hits of the 1980s and 1990s which will run from January 19 through February 11.
Tickets and information can be found at lamiradatheatre.com.
By Hannah Larson
