Mission Mission

I was a huge Emilio and Gloria Estefan fan growing up so of course when I heard their musical On Your Feet! was coming to town it was a must see for me. Also, the Golden Gate theater was shut down for the last 13 months for renovations (you can read more about that here) and the grand re-opening was being celebrated with the opening night for On Your Feet!, so a win win night of Drama Talk and Drinks.

Photo by Matthew Murphy

Garrett: I walked out on a high note with that energetic closing number. For me, this had moments of being really fun. I appreciated the choreography, colorful costumes and set design, but I felt a little lost because it felt like pieces of a story that didn’t really go together. Things didn’t quite add up for me. It wasn’t really cohesive or meaningful. I guess I didn’t learn anything about her that I didn’t already know.

Katie: I think that speaks to the issue of it not being a well written story. The original songs didn’t move anything forward, and there were also parts of her life they didn’t even go into at all. Like getting pregnant and having a kid, getting married… and when the hell did grandma die? There were things that were set up to be important and things that you were set up to care about that they didn’t include. I just think they tried to do too much that actually wasn’t very interesting. I would have rather seen more more character and relationship development. I just wish this was more heartfelt and unique. They were trying to appeal to a mass audience and throw in some fluff, and it fell flat for me and I LOVE Gloria Estefan.

G: Yeah, you either need to go full fluff or none at all and make it really interesting and they did neither.

K: It was this in between that felt random and forgettable.

G: Maybe they should have focused on the relationship between Gloria and her dad, or her and her sister, or her mother, or her grandma. Instead it was bits and pieces of each one and I ended up not caring about any of them.

K: But the bright side is the renovated theater looked beautiful.

G: Yes it did! New bathrooms, carpeting, and accents all around. It was great to be there and feel like a part of that theater-supporting community. Fun night!

The Verdict: This is a fun night out for Gloria Estefan fans, but not so much for those who are not.

The Drama Talk: This show tries to do too much and subsequently doesn’t do much at all. The story structure feels arbitrary and random with original songs that really slow down the pace. The story aside, this show had amazing performances, choreography and music. It’s a shame we left feeling that there was a missed opportunity with this show.

The Drinks: We wanted fun drinks after leaving this fun show so we headed a couple blocks away to Charmaine’s, which is a rooftop bar on top of the Proper hotel.

On Your Feet! plays through October 7th at the Golden Gate Theatre. Tickets range from $55-$236 and can be purchased on the SHN website. They are also doing in-person AND mobile rush tickets for $40, which is pretty cool. Visit this page to find link to the mobile app. Right now there are discounted tickets available on Goldstar.

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