Theatre in Review: On Your Feet! (Marquis Theatre)

	Ana Villafañe, center, and company. Photo: Matthew Murphy

"Immigrants: We get the job done." So goes one of the most reliable applause lines in Hamilton. The words apply equally well to the show next door at the Marquis. Subtitled "The Story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan," On Your Feet! is the story of two Cuban Americans who, by virtue of talent, gumption, hard work, and rock-solid family values, climb to the top of the entertainment industry. Take that, Donald Trump.

Not that On Your Feet! is ever a dry civic lesson. Indeed, so high are the spirits on stage at the Marquis that at any moment the show threatens to explode into a dance party, sweeping up the audience along with it. The director, Jerry Mitchell -- himself a sometime choreographer -- has engaged the gifted Sergio Trujillo to stage numbers that whoosh by like a series of fireballs, many of them cunningly conceived to advance the story. Singing about the glories of tradition to the neighborhood housewives on laundry day, the preadolescent Gloria is engulfed in colorful bedsheets, emerging from them all grown up. In less than 30 seconds of stage time, several years have elapsed. The number "1- 2- 3" is staged as a rehearsal for the group Miami Latin Boys, which Gloria has just joined; it is dying by inches until Gloria, by way of getting the attention of Emilio, the group's front man, infuses it with her own special brand of electricity. It's seduction by production number, and, as a bonus, we see her tap into the energy that will make her into a major star. (By the end of the number, the Miami Latin Boys has been renamed the Miami Sound Machine.) Later, the dancers, wearing Cuban sandals, beat the rhythm of a number into the stage deck, creating a kind of tapless tap dance. Gloria's breakout hit, "Conga," is staged as a lengthy musical sequence: The Estefans, frustrated in their efforts to have an English-language hit, furiously promote the number wherever they can, calling in favors to every DJ they know and plugging the number at weddings and bar mitzvahs. When the number finally hits the charts, it all but ignites the stage, spilling into the aisles and picking up members of the audience on a tidal wave of good times.

Like most of its predecessors in the bio musical genre, pop-star division, On Your Feet! has all of the usual drawbacks: The patina of authorized biography, the boilerplate dialogue designed to bring us up to speed on the latest developments in the stars' lives, and the songs, drawn from an existing pop catalogue, that don't always perfectly suit the purposes of narrative. Alexander Dinelaris' book follows the rise of the Estefans as they confront a series of obstacles: Gloria's mother, who hates show business and regards Emilio as little better than a grifter; the entrenched pop music industry, which wants to keep them pigeonholed as a Latin act; and the bus accident that threatens to leave Gloria crippled for life. The storytelling isn't always elegant, but it is often honestly touching, especially in its later stretches -- and the portrait of the Estefans' marriage, a partnership of true minds, is especially appealing. And if Gloria's life resembles the plot of a Columbia B picture -- well, that's showbiz, kids.

Mitchell's direction -- he knows more than anyone on Broadway today how to keep a musical in constant motion -- is a great help, as is the enormously likable and often ferociously talented cast he has assembled. Ana Villafañe, making her Broadway debut, gives Gloria a tough, wisecracking exterior that never obscures the grounded woman inside; she applies her own personal electric current to the musical numbers, more than holding her own with a gifted dance chorus led by Carlos E. Gonzalez. (Check her out in the title number, leaping around the stage in high heels; the woman has energy to spare.) She also delivers the ballads with the assurance of one to the diva manner born. The sure-of-herself persona gives way in the later scenes to a touching vulnerability when she faces the possibility of life in a wheelchair; even a potentially hokey moment, in which she discovers thousands of get-well letters sent by fans, pays off, thanks to her delicate handling of the scene. This is an auspicious Broadway debut.

Villafañe is lucky to have as her on-stage partner Josh Segarra, whose Emilio has plenty of warmth, humor, and sexual chemistry. He is the good-natured butt of more impenetrable-accent jokes since Desi Arnaz's heyday as Ricky Ricardo, but he also brings the house down when, facing off against a treacherous record company executive, he grabs the guy by the labels and whispers, in no uncertain terms, "This is what an American looks like." He also shares a potent duet of "If I Never Got to Tell You" with Andréa Burns, as Gloria's fractious mother, during a hospital reconciliation scene (another potentially corny moment that plays surprisingly true). Gloria's mother is revealed to have had her own show business dreams, which were derailed by family politics and the rise of Castro, and she sizzles in a nightclub flashback sequence, performing "Mi Tierra" to a well-heeled Havana crowd. Alma Cuervo is hilarious, but never too much, as Gloria's showbiz-crazed abuela. Alexandria Suarez makes a winsome appearance as the young Gloria. At the performance I attended, Kevin Tellez subbed for Eduardo Hernandez, who takes on a variety of roles, including the Estefans' little boy, Nayib; he danced and charmed the audience with abandon.

One reason Mitchell's musical moves so well is that he has the set designer David Rockwell, who here uses a variety of slider panels covered with louvered shutters -- a real Cuban touch -- to constantly redefine the space; Rockwell also provides some evocative backdrops, including a view of the projects where Gloria grew up, various Miami street scenes, record company offices, a bandstand that rolls up and downstage, and that Cuban nightclub interior. Darrel Maloney layers onto the sets projections of palm trees, sunsets, record album covers, and posters for Miami Sound Machine on tour. Kenneth Posner can do flamboyant lighting -- see his work on Hairspray and Kinky Boots -- but more often he excels at doing subtle; here he goes into full rock concert mode with such tools as a box truss on the proscenium filled with moving units that send beams shooting into the audience and an articulating truss over the stage that consists of three pods of moving lights. He uses them all -- and more -- to create chases, sweeps, and pulses for maximum excitement. Even so, he treats the dramatic scenes with the lightest of touches. It is one of his most distinctive achievements. The sound, by SCK Sound Design, is much louder than the Broadway norm, at least during the musical numbers, but it is appropriate for the music and it goes easy for the book scenes. ESosa's costumes range from accurate period wear of the last few decades to flamboyant show costumes, and include such amusing touches as a series of pastel bridesmaids' gowns for an Italian wedding where Gloria performs "Conga."

As much a celebration as a full-on musical drama, On Your Feet! carefully tucks its weaknesses away behind a façade of flash, dazzle, and moments of authentic warmth. It's the story of nice people who made it big, of immigrants who achieved success the old-fashioned way. In this most diverse season for Broadway musicals -- with Hamilton, Spring Awakening, and Allegiance opening the door for a host of fresh new faces -- it delivers its message with a pure surge of fun. Attention, people: In 2015, this is what Broadway looks like. -- David Barbour