On Your Feet!, the Estefans' Broadway Musical, Is Coming to Miami

Better get On Your Feet!, Miami.

Gloria and Emilio Estefan’s autobiographical Broadway musical is finally making its way to the Magic City, kicking off the 2017-18 season of Broadway in Miami at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts this October.

After more than a year on the Great White Way, the musical based on Miami’s iconic power couple will finally conga its way across the nation. And, naturally, the homecoming gig will mark the debut of the On Your Feet! national tour October 5 through 15.

The news broke last night at the Knight Concert Hall during the Broadway in Miami season announcement. Given more than just the 2017-18 lineup, the 305’s diehard Broadway fans were treated to a special surprise: a visit from the Estefans themselves.

“I’m excited!” Gloria beamed about On Your Feet! and its Miami premiere. “The person onstage is actually gonna have a Miami accent! I think it’s fantastic. The fact that we grew up in Miami is what gave us the ability to make the music that we did. It is very much a Miami story. People are gonna be surprised, and they’re gonna like it.”

Written by Broadway veteran — and Academy Award winner for Best Original Screenplay for the 2014 film Birdman — Alexander Dinelaris, the bilingual production tells the tale of the Estefans' journey to the United States, how they became international Latin music sensations, and how they overcame dark times and personal tragedies, including Gloria’s spinal cord injury in 1990, which almost left her paralyzed.

“I think it's a story that resonates in Miami,” explains Liz Wallace, vice president of programming at the Arsht Center. “It’s authentic. It’s real. It’s about — and by — one of Miami’s beloved residents, and I think the energy Miami will give to the show is a great sendoff to the rest of the country on tour.”

And though On Your Feet! will definitely make audiences get on their feet, it speaks louder than the música y baile in it: The musical tells the story of every individual who has left his or her homeland in search of a better future in the Land of Opportunity.

“We wanna spread the message that immigrants contribute a lot to this country, that we're a diverse tapestry here, and that there’s strength in that,” Gloria said. “What makes the United States the great country that it is, is this amazing combination of people from all over the world who have brought their own magical culture and background to this amazing land.”
In addition to On Your Feet! bringing two weeks of ritmo y salsa to the Arsht Center this October, this season's Broadway in Miami will also present Finding Neverland, based on the Academy Award-winning film of the same name, December 26 through 31, and the 2016 Tony Award winner for Best Musical Revival, The Color Purple, February 27 through March 4, 2018.

Also coming to the Miami is the South Florida premiere of The Bodyguard, featuring Grammy-nominated singer Deborah Cox, April 3 through 8, 2018; Chicago, the longest-running American musical in Broadway history, May 8 through 13, 2018; and, back by popular demand, The Book of Mormon November 28 through December 3, 2018.

“There’s something special about all of them, but for different reasons,” Wallace says about Broadway in Miami’s upcoming musicals. “We’ve got a really solid season: big titles, lots of fun music, accessible music, familiar music. People will get right into the groove of it.”

Broadway in Miami
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; 305-949-6722; arshtcenter.org. Season ticket prices for the five-show Broadway in Miami subscription package range from $155 to $692. Current subscribers can renew their season tickets before the general public beginning February 6, 2017. Single tickets to the 2017-18 Broadway in Miami season will be available in early fall.