Gloria Estefan musical ‘On Your Feet!’ opens at Straz Center

A lot of people love the music of Gloria Estefan.

But even those who don’t are likely to love the hit Broadway musical that is built around Estefan’s life and music, “On Your Feet!”

So says Mauricio Martinez, who knows a bit about Estefan and the show.

Martinez plays Emilio Estefan, the husband of Gloria and a 19-time Grammy Award-winner in his on right, in the national tour of “On Your Feet!”

The tour stops at the Straz Center for Performing Arts in Tampa for eight shows beginning Tuesday.

“I think you don’t have to be a fan of Gloria or her music to enjoy this show,” Martinez said in a phone interview from a tour stop in Miami. “It’s a love story. It’s about two wonderful people who found each other. But it’s also about people who feel a lot of pride in being Cuban, and about being dreamers who realize the American Dream.”

It’s also the story of triumph over tragedy, as Gloria Estefan fights back to rebuild her life and career after a severe traffic accident while she was on her tour bus in 1990.

“It’s about the power of family, the power of prayer, the power of love,” Martinez said.

The story is compelling — the book comes from writer Alexander Dinelaris, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for “Birdman” — but the music will be the main draw for a lot of audience members.

“On Your Feet!” includes a couple dozen musical numbers, starting with “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You” and moving through such Estefan hits as “1, 2, 3,” “Conga” and “Reach,” plus several songs that were huge hits on the Latin charts but may not be familiar to those who stick to mainstream music.

Gloria and Emilio Estefan worked closely with the cast and creators of the Broadway show, and they’ve been working with Martinez and the rest of the cast of the national tour.

“This is a project they really care for,” Martinez said. “They’re so generous. It makes things easier. It’s the best research you could hope for.”

The Estefans aren’t the only ones involved with the show who have a personal connection to the music and the story. The band for “On Your Feet!” is on stage, not in the orchestra pit, and the musicians include members of the Miami Sound Machine, the band that gave Gloria and Emilio Estefan their first mainstream success and continues to perform with Gloria Estefan in concert.

The Broadway run of “On Your Feet!” closed in August after more than 700 performances. Reviews were positive, praising the bland of a crowd-pleasing old-school musical formula and the unusual dark turn the story takes after that 1990 tour bus collision, for the salsa-flavored music and for the book. The show received a Tony Award nomination for choreography but didn’t win.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Martinez said. “But it’s also a very strong story. It’s inspiring.”

Details: Oct. 24-29, Morsani Hall at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. $55-$120 plus service charge. 813-229-7827, strazcenter.org.

This story was originally published October 19, 2017 at 10:36 AM with the headline "Gloria Estefan musical ‘On Your Feet!’ opens at Straz Center."