The exclamation point at the end of “On Your Feet!” appears to be deserved, at least according to the Chicago theater critics who welcomed the new bio-musical about pop superstar Gloria Estefan with surprisingly strong reviews. The show is currently in an out-of-town tryout in Chicago through July 5 and will begin previews at Broadway’s Marquis Theatre on October 5, having gathered a full head of steam.Steve Oxman of Variety: “It's a show sure to please the built-in audience that will find absolutely exactly the entertainment they expect, and even the less fully acquainted will find that the rhythm really is going to get you.”Kris Vire of TimeOut Chicago: “The storytelling is so sophisticated it makes ‘Motown the Musical’ look like a school pageant.”Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune: “Here is what surprises, and what should sustain this show once it opens on Broadway in the fall, hopefully with its current weaknesses fixed: The bookwriter Alexander Dinelaris, the choreographer Sergio Trujillo and the director Jerry Mitchell have, together, not only avoided feathery excess and nostalgic 1980s schmaltz, they've created a show with a strikingly high amount of emotional intimacy.”That has rarely been the case with so-called “jukebox” musicals in which the stories are woven around an existing songbook. What Dinelaris, Oscar winner for writing the feature film “Birdman,” has been able to do is focus on family in telling the story of the rise of Gloria Estefan and Emilio Estefan, her husband and creative collaborator. Both Cuban émigrés who married in their early 20s, the couple rose to global success through combining the rhythms of their native country to a contemporary American pop sound. Since all was relatively calm on the domestic front during those years — no drug abuse or marital discord — Dinelaris has created whatever tension exists in the musical through Gloria’s mother’s disapproval of her daughter’s choice of husband and career; the short-sightedness of record executives; and most dramatically, the 1990 near-fatal accident when a truck rammed the bus in which Estefan and her band were travelling.On paper, “On Your Feet!” bears some resemblance to a couple of Broadway smash hits: “Jersey Boys,” which tells the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, and “Beautiful,” the Carole King musical. Those shows struck an immediate and resonant chord with its target audience — Baby Boomers — and so will “On Your Feet!” The new musical will feature Estefan’s pop hits, including “Rhythm is Gonna Get You,” “1-2-3,” “Conga,” “Don’t Want to Lose You Now,” “Words Get in the Way,” and “Coming Out of the Darkness.” But the show will also have tremendous appeal to a growing segment of ticket buyers: the Latino audience. That same demographic helped to make a hit of “In the Heights,” the 2008 Tony Award Best Musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda set in the Dominican-American neighborhood of Washington Heights. Miranda, by the way, has written and is the star of the highly acclaimed “Hamilton,” the musical about titular founding father that is also part of the upcoming season and likely to dominate the Tony Awards for 2016. Since the show opened at the Public Theatre to adoring reviews, it has hardly been out of the news as it prepares to begin previews on Broadway this month.However, “On Your Feet!” need not worry about “Hamilton” sucking up all the oxygen. The Latino-flavored musical arrives at a propitious historical moment: A rapprochement between the United States and Cuba after decades of hostility. Remember the Elian Gonzalez custody case in 2000, which stirred up a hornet’s nest in the Cuban-American neighborhoods of Miami from which the Estefans sprang? Gloria Estefan was one of the most influential social figures lending support to the throngs who protested the boy’s removal by his father from the United States and back to Cuba. Now it’s not hard to imagine that “On Your Feet!” will be among the first Broadway musicals to tour Cuba.If you’re so inclined, book your tickets now.
↧