Review: Molly Langley, Ayen Laurel power 'On Your Feet!'
Standout performances, infectious music and heartfelt family drama make up for the Broadway book’s shortcomings.
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Standout performances, infectious music and heartfelt family drama make up for the Broadway book’s shortcomings.
Ayen Laurel as Gloria Fajardo.
Jason Canela as the swoon-worth Emilio Estefan.
With its final performance on 26 July, 9 Works Theatrical’s staging of On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio & Gloria Estefan makes for an undeniably fun night at the theater, especially for Gloria Estefan diehards.
Directed by Robbie Guevara, the Broadway jukebox musical traces Gloria’s rise from aspiring singer to international superstar through the hits that defined her career. It’s a straightforward, broad-strokes retelling of her life and her journey with husband Emilio—nothing overly complex, just the story as we know it.
If you grew up on Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine, the show is a breeze to enjoy. The setlist is infectious, the choreography is bursting with life, and the energy in the room is plain fun.
My biggest issue isn’t with 9 Works Theatrical, but with the licensed Broadway material itself. Because it’s a licensed show, the company can’t just chop down or rewrite Alexander Dinelaris’ book.
Unfortunately, the script leans way too heavily on unnecessary flashbacks, stretching the whole thing to two and a half hours. A leaner 90-minute cut focused on its strongest dramatic beats would have hit so much harder.
That’s also why the music repeatedly rescues the production. Every single time the narrative starts to drag, another musical number arrives and immediately shocks the energy back to life.
This is commercial musical theater, after all—people come for the music, the dancing, and the familiar Latin pop hits, and those moments never disappoint.
Mio Infante’s scenography is economical—a practical approach that’s become a signature across several 9 Works Theatrical productions.
It remains relatively simple compared to massive, large-scale musicals, and it’s certainly less effective than the scenic design of The Bodyguard.
Still, it makes smart use of the space. Sliding units glide across the stage from both sides, changing locations without cutting the flow and opening up to reveal the live orchestra during concert numbers. Paired with the Proscenium Theater’s crisp acoustics, both the band and the cast’s vocals hit all the right notes.
The costumes bring all the vibrant Latin pop flair you’d hope for. My only real gripe is the wigs. This has always been one of my biggest theater pet peeves.
From my seat, too many of them looked glaringly synthetic, complete with visible hairlines that constantly pulled me out of the moment. Even several male performers wore pieces that looked noticeably fake.
I really wish the production had invested in higher-quality pieces or just styled the actors’ natural hair. The solid performances eventually make you forget about them, but it takes a good few scenes before your eyes stop darting to the hairlines.
And those performances are precisely why you buy a ticket. Molly Langley, alternating with Kayla Rivera as Gloria, turns in an effortlessly confident performance. Beyond looking the part, her voice is the real knockout.
Langley glides through demanding songs like they’re nothing, once again proving the sheer powerhouse caliber of local musical theater talent. Opposite her, Jason Canela plays Emilio as a steadily supportive partner. Their romance is sweet enough, but it never becomes the emotional anchor of the evening.
Instead, the real heart of the show sits firmly within Gloria’s family. Ayen Laurel delivers the production’s finest dramatic work as Gloria’s mother, Gloria Fajardo. She rules the stage with a strict, demanding presence that makes her instantly tough to like.
At times she even borders on selfish, but Laurel never reduces her to a simple villain. Bit by bit, she peels back the layers of a woman haunted by crushed dreams, old heartbreaks, and the burden of caring for a husband living with multiple sclerosis.
Laurel navigates those contradictions with remarkable restraint—she never begs for the audience’s pity, yet she makes you understand her completely. Her clash with Gloria becomes the show’s most emotionally involving and compelling relationship.
Just as touching are Gloria’s scenes with her abuela, Consuelo Garcia, played by Pinky Marquez. Marquez fills the room with warmth, quick humor, and unconditional love, offering a gentle cushion against the tension at home.
Those moments between granddaughter and grandmother—along with Gloria’s bonds with her sister and father—leave a far deeper mark than the central love story.
Make no mistake: you will feel that running time. The guy sitting next to me and another audience member right behind me started snoring mid-show.
But almost every time the pacing threatened to lose the crowd, the music roared back, the cast burst into song and dance, and the entire theater shifted gears. By the time “Conga” hit, people were clapping, singing along, and turning the Proscenium Theater into a full-blown Miami party.
Despite the overstuffed script, Guevara delivers a crowd-pleaser that’s easy to love. He can’t alter the licensed material, but he keeps the staging fluid, makes dynamic use of the live orchestra, and lets a top-tier cast do what they do best. It may drag in spots, but it it is overall entertaining.
If you’re a Gloria Estefan fan, On Your Feet! is well worth catching before it takes its final bow tomorrow, 26 July.
