review

milt thomas

On Your Feet, the story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan, is rocking the Riverside Theatre! In a season of great shows, this one is literally lighting up the stage. From the opening curtain, you will be dazzled by the music, the story, the cast, and I have to mention it – the lighting.

We know most of the music. Gloria Estefan (who wrote most of her songs) had 38 number one hits around the world, 26 Grammy Awards with her husband, across all genres selling 100 million records. Now we know the story behind the music.

In a nutshell, the show takes us back to her family’s time in Cuba. Gloria, escapes from there to Miami in 1959 with her sister, parents and grandparents when she was only two years old. (What is not covered in this show is that Gloria’s father, Jose Fajardo, returned with the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion, where he was imprisoned for almost two years. On his return, he joined the US military and fought in Vietnam.)  In one flashback scene, her father, Jose, (played by Adriel Orlando Garcia), is in Vietnam with some buddies and listening to a recording sent by young Gloria (Sofia Brown), singing and playing a song she wrote.

As the show progresses, Iliana Marie Garcia plays Gloria as a shy teenager when her grandmother (Barbara Bonilla) “encourages” her to see a small time local group called the Miami Latin Boys. There she is introduced to the group’s leader, Emilio (Angel Lozada), who invites her to a rehearsal, where she can try out a new song. Gloria’s mother, also a Gloria (Miss YaYa Vargas), disapproves because it will only interfere with Gloria’s university studies and help with caring for her father, who suffers from MS after being exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam.

Gloria dreads performing in front of the band, mother and grandmother, and asks her sister, Rebecca (Amanda Arjona), to come up as her emotional support sibling while doing so. She captures the band members’ hearts, especially Emilio, and joins the band. They have to change their band’s name, of course, and decide on Miami Sound Machine. Her mother is dead set against this and against Emilio for reasons that will become clear as the show moves along.

From there they become the talk of Little Havana in Miami, book a tour to South America and rise on the Latin pop charts. Gloria and Emilio feel their music would appeal to a much larger US audience if she sang in English. So they go to a record label executive, Phil, (Michael James Byrne), with a song in English and he turns them down, believing that Latin stars have no chance of crossing over into the English-speaking market. To convince him otherwise, they invite him to their appearances at a Bar Mitzvah, an Italian wedding and finally a Shriner’s convention in Las Vegas, where he is finally convinced of their broad appeal. This is also a great set piece to close out the first act and you feel like you are in Las Vegas watching it.

Their personal lives and incomparable fame are covered in the second act, along with love, family, tragedy and plenty of music. We already know some of the story and all of the music, but the performances make it fresh and exciting.

Garcia is perfect as Gloria, both in voice and appearance. The important people in her life become important to us as well, with the actors’ vivid and emotional portrayals of her mother, father, grandmother and love of her life, Emilio. Gloria’s emotional support sister is always there for her. As far as Gloria’s climb to stardom is concerned, she and Emilio had to pry open the doors to success by personal willpower even when the industry tried to shut them out. It is all there for the audience to experience, in this outstanding tour de force production.

As a musician myself, I am always impressed by the musicianship in every Riverside production, but especially for this show, where the band lets loose on infectious Latin rhythms.

As I mentioned at the beginning, lighting punctuated every song and scene, from ghostly low in a dream sequence, to heavenly romantic to stadium-like extravaganza. This is accomplished with 5,000 individually controlled lighting fixtures containing 487 individual lights. Okay, enough said.

The bottom line is, you must see On Your Feet! It is the final show for this season and even if you are not a theater-goer, it is an experience that will turn you into one. You know the music, probably know the story, but the synergy created by these great actors, musicians, dancers and producers, delivers so much more.

The show runs through May 5. Tickets start at $45 and can be purchased by calling the Box Office at 772-231-6990 or online at http://www.riversidetheatre.com.