Broadway Across America: ‘On Your Feet!’
Tuesday through Sunday, Nov. 6-11.
ASU Gammage, Mill Avenue and Apache Boulevard, Tempe.
$20-$125.
480-965-3434, asugammage.com. of the Estefans’ story. The pair, both Cuban immigrants, met in Miami’s Little Havana in the ’70s. He was a bandleader; she was a shy young woman studying to be a psychologist who had to be convinced to try out for his musical group.
After Gloria got over her initial stage fright, the two became stars as leaders of the Miami Sound Machine. They first hit in the Latin market, then crossed over to English with a series of self-penned records that dominated pop radio: “Conga,” “Don’t Wanna Lose You” and “Anything for You” are among the most lasting. There were also tunes like the gorgeous “Con Los Años Que Me Quedan” and the explosive “Oye Mi Canto,” which emerged as contemporary standards for Spanish-language audiences.
A 1990 bus accident left Gloria with a fractured spine. There was doubt that she would ever perform again, but she triumphantly returned to the public eye after almost a year of physical therapy.
Revisiting such painful moments weren’t always easy.
“The accident was really hard to remember,” says Emilio, 65. “I remember how she had to learn to walk again, and it’s hard. They told us we’d never have more kids. Even before that, when we left Cuba and it was like saying goodbye forever to our families, because you knew in their eyes it was the last time you’d ever
see them.”
The show can still get to him, even though it premiered on Broadway three years ago and has been on tour since 2017.
“I was in Los Angeles watching it, and I still cried,” he says. “You feel like you go back to the moment, to the energy. There are so many memories.”
Inspiration
But that doesn’t mean the show is a downer. There is plenty of warmth and humor — just wait for the bar mitzvah scene. And, quite simply, the score is too dynamic, too infectious. Darned if it isn’t true: The rhythm really is gonna get you.
Beyond the tunes, the show is full of Emilio’s heart and optimism.
“I’m the kind of guy who’s very positive,” he says. “I was the guy who converted everything negative in my life to positive.”
Once the couple achieved fame, “I was the kind of guy who wanted to be sure we’d always be able to inspire minorities: not only Latinos, but anyone who’s a minority. That’s always been important to me.”
Rivera is living proof that Emilio achieved that dream. When he was 18, he decided to pursue a musical career. Knowing that Emilio and Gloria recorded for Sony, his goal was to meet Emilio and get a deal with the label.
“I washed cars to pay money to my vocal coach,” Rivera recalls. “I made a cassette for $300 of a bad composition I wrote with my compadre. For my head shot, I took Polaroids in the garden of the house of my mother. It was terrible. It was like the worst possible package you could deliver to Sony Music.”
Still, he took the cassette and photo to Sony in Puerto Rico, not realizing that Emilio was affiliated with the Miami office.
“But now,” Rivera says, “I’m just grateful to God because I performed as Emilio Estefan on Broadway, the most important platform in the world, and now I’m on tour. Emilio gave me the trust to perform his life to thousands and thousands of people. That’s how I learned patience is a good quality, and now I can tell this story with pride and appreciation.”
Reach the reporter at randy.cordova@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8849. Twitter.com/ randy_cordova.