On Your Feet!

"The recipe may be familiar, but the flavor is fresh in 'On Your Feet!,' the half-formulaic, half-original and undeniably crowd-pleasing musical...But with an often mechanical book, moving through its rags-to-riches paces as if to a rigid percussive beat, 'On Your Feet!' ultimately falls somewhere in the middle of the hefty pack of jukebox musicals that have plugged in to Broadway’s power strip." Full Review

"As far as these things go, 'On Your Feet!' is better than most. It won't change the course of musical theater, but you will have a really good time seeing it…This two-hour-twenty-minute concert-with-plot pleasantly breezes by, held together by Alexander Dinelaris' smartly efficient book…'On Your Feet!' suffers from the same flaws inherent in any musical that attempts to employ a musician's catalogue to tell a somewhat whitewashed version of a his or her life." Full Review

"It’s a pleasure to welcome 'On Your Feet!,' the rare show that earns its exclamation mark...This biographical jukebox musical packages every showbiz cliché...Sergio Trujillo’s high-energy choreography propels the action, but the show belongs to its cast. Villafañe’s Gloria is sexy in an approachable, likable way, while Segarra’s Emilio is just as hot but also endearingly self-deprecating. Add a brass-heavy orchestra, and you have a hit." Full Review

"The dance-heavy first half ends on a high point, but 'On Your Feet' loses steam when the melodramatic plot takes over in a second act…'On Your Feet's' second act suffers from a common trap when jukebox musicals turn dramatic; there are no songs that specifically address the issues at hand...The musical's success is predominantly dependent on the wonderfully entertaining moments supplied by the dancers and music." Full Review

"A surefire audience pleaser...Newcomer Ana Villafane is a knockout in the leading role, the dazzling centerpiece of this flashy, splashy spectacle helmed by Jerry Mitchell...Structurally, the show builds to the full flowering of this Cuban-fusion sound, song after familiar song from the Estefan canon, mounted in full production numbers for Villafane’s dynamic voice, backed up by a robust singing-and-dancing chorus. It’s exhausting— but you can’t say it isn’t fun." Full Review

"There’s not much about it to inspire reaction of any kind. A serviceable jukebox musical...Neither Estefan nor her life nor her music are especially dramatically interesting...With the bland diligence of an authorized mass-market biography, Alexander Dinelaris’s script trudges through Estefan’s journey...The audience perks up each time one of Estefan’s Latin-flavored hits begins, then palpably wilts as the numbers go on. Rhythm can only get you so far." Full Review

"A stripped down, concert-style approach might have served 'On Your Feet!' much better. Instead we get Dinelaris’s formulaic book, David Rockwell’s uncharacteristically flimsy sets and Darrel Maloney’s surprisingly ugly projections...The director, Jerry Mitchell, doesn’t have a sure hand for pace or tone here, instead employing a pile of cheaply effective tricks, like trotting out small children and the elderly like so many adorable pets." Full Review

"So high are the spirits on stage that at any moment the show threatens to explode into a dance party...Like most of its predecessors in the bio musical genre, pop-star division, 'On Your Feet!' has all of the usual drawbacks...Mitchell's direction is a great help, as is the enormously likable and often ferociously talented cast he has assembled...'On Your Feet!' carefully tucks its weaknesses away behind a façade of flash, dazzle, and moments of authentic warmth." Full Review

"'On Your Feet' is as much by-the-numbers as any other Broadway bio or juke box musical, but when the numbers are “1-2-3” – the name of one of Estefan’s many electrifying hits – the average theatergoer will surely find it easier to forgive the formulaic aspects of the show…Here’s the problem: With just one horrendous exception, Gloria Estefan has led a charmed life…It’s a testament to the acting that, for all the calculation evident in the book, a family feeling comes through." Full Review

"'To say that 'On Your Feet!' is better than most of its ilk is therefore faint praise…The happy news is that in its music and staging it re-creates the excitement of the songs when they were new…Here, in a story about making it big in America by becoming more like everyone else, the form at last matches the content. Is that a new high or a new low? Maybe a bit of both. 'On Your Feet!' — even the title sounds pre-owned — is a little bit special but mostly the overmiked same." Full Review

"You will do as the title tells you and be 'On Your Feet' because this dazzling and delightful musical will lift you up like nobody’s business…Here the authors have let the music do the talking and the story follow in its footsteps. The result is a perfect 10. Fun, tears, greats songs and dancing…The warp and woof of story and music blend to make an evening that does justice to Estefan’s tale. This show does not pretend to be anything other than what it is." Full Review

"'On Your Feet' begins so confidently, you get excited. It's frothy, fun and as the songs pile up, you realize that you recognize a lot more of them than you thought...Unfortunately, there's also an act two...Leave after the first act and you'll recommend 'On Your Feet' to undemanding theater-goers looking for some harmless fun. Stay for the whole show and you'll probably go home to buy Estefan's greatest hits. But recommend the musical? Probably not." Full Review

"Songs are anchored by the dialogue - which fit seamlessly - rather than shoehorned in...Credit Alexander Dinelaris, who penned the book. While he chronicles Estefan's musical ascension, he also tackles family, immigration, the American Dream and the record industry - creating a touching, entertaining story. Combined with Jerry Mitchell's fast-paced direction and a hot orchestra, it's an on-your-feet tribute to the enormously hardworking duo." Full Review

"Alexander Dinelaris’s book is heavy on the Hollywoodian clichés, but it has its charming moments, too, and every other aspect of the production, directed by Jerry Mitchell, is slick and satisfying, starting with the smoking-hot choreography of Sergio Trujillo and the tear-it-up onstage band...Yes, I know, it’s just a jukebox musical, but I liked 'On Your Feet!' In fact, I liked it a lot—and I think you might, too." Full Review

"As it stands, this well-meaning, well-performed, and otherwise well-executed evening is more admirable than electric. Dinelaris hasn't successfully tapped into whatever qualities outside their music might have made the Estefans worth dramatizing in the first place. In fact, despite outstanding performances from Ana Villafañe and Josh Segarra as the pair, they both come across as mighty dull." Full Review

"Audiences will certainly get their money's worth at 'On Your Feet!' if they're enamored of the hot-hot music spread around the globe in tandem by Gloria and hubby Emilio. Director Jerry Mitchell helps deliver what's called for...Few, if any, Estefan idolizers will be disappointed at the inclusions...After a while, though, spectators may come to think the high-powered productions made of them in Esosa's flashy, flashier and flashiest costumes are beginning to weigh down the proceedings." Full Review

"'On Your Feet!' has a whitewashed, corporate-approved texture, which makes Gloria and Emilio come off as utterly devoid of personality...It's so self-congratulatory that one gets the impression that they personally vetted every line. The production comes to life during upbeat production numbers, which have lively, salsa-flavored movement and a hot sound. But more often than not, it gets mired in flashbacks and other downbeat sequences in which the songs lack impact." Full Review

"The book here by Alexander Dinelaris is hardly a model of robust dramatic construction…But the story is packed with heart, above all in its tender depiction of the couple's sustaining love.…Musical-theater purists will sniff, but audiences looking for entertainment with emotional uplift will get what they came for. Even at its most shameless it's impossible to deny the production's generosity of spirit." Full Review

"A paint-by-numbers portrait can still be colorful — and a kick. Case in point: 'On Your Feet!,' a predictable but entertaining show about Gloria Estefan...The jukebox musical checks off all the usual-suspect plot points: humble roots, showbiz hurdles, tragedy, triumph, plus a gratuitous dance concert as a chaser...In spite of shortcomings, it makes good on a promise…Resistance is futile when it comes to these Latin-flavored hits…Cheesy and crowd-rousing." Full Review

"'On Your Feet!' is every bit as propulsive as the music and the personalities it celebrates. It has the flaws of an authorized biography; it’s worshipful of the central couple...A star is surely born with the Gloria of Ana Villafañe… As story-telling, 'On Your Feet!' can be as clunkily generic as the title. But there’s a deep well of life in the music that comes across powerfully in the staging — especially in that central supernova performance by a young actress I hope we’ll be seeing a lot... Full Review

"The show pulsates with the funky Latin beat that's made Gloria Estefan the music world's major crossover success. It's also got a schmaltzy and inspiring story…Flaws notwithstanding, this is one of those sincere, uplift stories people like to identify with. No matter, if it's too sanitized for your taste, since the ticket selling draw is the music and the high energy staging. Even if you don't own a single one of the zillion or more Estefan albums, the rhythm is indeed likely to get to you." Full Review

"In the course of the show's move from Chicago director Jerry Mitchell has greatly improved the storytelling and excised a few lingering cliches of the genre. In its final form, 'On Your Feet!' is at once a classy and populist entry into the Broadway season, offering enough of a musical entertainment to please those who danced to Estefan in the 1990s, and also has enough Latin flavor to appeal to an emerging audience usually ignored by Broadway." Full Review

"An engaging jukebox musical that depends heavily on the music of the Estefans and the Miami Sound Machine to tell the story of the iconic couple. The musical highlights several important themes and raises a considerable collection of rich and enduring questions...Under Jerry Mitchell’s able direction, the cast is uniformly brilliant…'On Your Feet!' will be around for some time. Enjoy the music and the story and be inspired." Full Review

"As jukebox musical biographies go, ‘On Your Feet!’ doesn't have the depth and charm of 'Beautiful: The Carole King Musical' or the passion and fun of 'Jersey Boys.' What Broadway's newest entry in our unofficial personal-history-of-pop-music series has are lots of much-loved Grammy-winning songs…The problem is the by-the-numbers story...The book by Alexander Dinelaris has virtually no crises or conflicts that last long enough to drive the tension beyond the next song." Full Review

"As self-promoting hagiographies go, 'On Your Feet!' makes 'Trump: The Art of the Deal' look downright modest… Sometime before the bus crash, Dinelaris inserts a flashback to Emilio’s childhood where he and his family leave Cuba for Madrid, and his parents then send him off alone to America. It’s possible that starting with his story, instead of Gloria’s, would have given the show more of a dramatic arc."" Full Review