REVIEW: ‘On Your Feet’ keeps it moving
On Your Feet! finds its strongest emotional footing in its family dynamics, even as it remains firmly committed to celebrating Gloria Estefan’s greatest hits.
Long before Gloria Estefan became a global superstar, she was a daughter navigating the expectations of a mother who believed success should look very different from the path she had chosen. Gloria may already be finding success as a musician, but to her mother, that success still pales beside the psychology degree left unused.
The friction between parental expectations and an adult child choosing her own path becomes the emotional thread with the greatest potential. For audiences in Manila, this is where the musical finds its strongest point of recognition. On Your Feet! is, after all, rooted in the story of a Cuban family rebuilding their lives in America after exile. Yet the musical itself spends relatively little time unpacking that experience beyond a handful of key moments.
Directed by Robbie Guevara, this On Your Feet! rarely stays with its strongest moments for very long.
Highlights reel
Alexander Dinelaris’ book often plays like a highlights reel of the Estefans’ lives, with major milestones quickly giving way to the next musical number. Gloria and Emilio’s rise to international fame unfolds with an almost frictionless inevitability, making their journey feel less like a series of difficult choices than a succession of career milestones. Significant events register, but the show seldom pauses to explore how they reshape the people at its center. One can almost sense the structure bending itself around the next Gloria Estefan hit waiting in the wings.
Jason Canela as Emilio Estefan; Photo Credit: Rockwell
That approach certainly has its audience. Jukebox musicals have become a familiar fixture of Manila’s theater calendar, and On Your Feet! clearly understands the pleasures that come with hearing radio hits of old performed live. There is plenty of fun to be had here. The music remains infectious, the dancing energetic, and the evening moves at a brisk clip. Yet because the book keeps returning to the music as its primary engine, the more compelling dramatic material embedded within the Estefans’ story never fully gathers momentum.
Fast rhythm
Nunoy van den Burgh’s choreography fills the stage with constant movement, while Daniel Bartolome’s musical direction gives the score the energy it requires throughout the evening.
Guevara’s staging itself is straightforward. Scene changes frequently resolve into blackouts before the next setting appears. Mio Infante’s scenic design alternates between concert staging, projected backdrops, and abstract scenic pieces suggesting homes or other interiors.
The evening rarely slows down, and emotional scenes often give way quickly to the next sequence. Judging from the audience’s response during the gala performance, that rhythm clearly works for many theatergoers, who responded enthusiastically throughout the evening.
Taking the lead
Among the cast, Ayen Laurel delivers the production’s richest dramatic performance as Gloria Fajardo. Laurel carries herself with the quiet authority of someone who has endured much and emerged stronger for it. The role could easily have settled into a portrait of a disapproving mother standing in the way of her daughter’s dreams. In fact, Fajardo’s arc is arguably the most compelling in the musical. Given her own number to present a backstory, Laurel makes the most of it by delivering superbly, allowing the audience to understand the woman behind her rigidity. This pays off the most in the moment she finally sees eye to eye with Emilio in the second act.
Ayen Laurel as Gloria Fajardo; Photo Credit: Rockwell
Jason Canela brings considerable charm to Emilio Estefan. Reprising a role he has previously played in the US, he gives Emilio an easy humor and playful confidence that immediately brighten every scene he enters. His charisma gives Emilio a natural anchor that helps carry much of the musical.
Competent cast
Kayla Rivera capably meets Gloria Estefan’s demanding vocal and choreographic requirements, but her characterization leaves the audience relying more on what the script tells us about Gloria than on what unfolds on stage. The musical repeatedly positions Gloria as someone quietly determined, someone willing to make difficult decisions for herself and those around her. Rivera’s performance, however, projects a gentler, more reserved presence. As Gloria’s career gathers momentum, it can feel as though success is happening around her rather than because of her own drive. Consequently, moments that should register as decisive acts of personal conviction lose some of their impact.
Rivera remains consistently competent throughout. She sings, dances, and acts well but seldom commands the stage in a way that unmistakably establishes Gloria as the gravitational center of her own story.
The supporting cast and the sizeable ensemble keeps the production lively from beginning to end. The ensemble’s singing and dancing effectively sustain the show’s energy, although no individual performance distinguish themselves beyond the production’s larger spectacle.
Jukebox fare
There are moments when On Your Feet! briefly reveals the fuller emotional drama that exists beneath its jukebox framework. They often arrive through Gloria’s relationship with her mother, where questions of love, protection, expectation, and independence momentarily take precedence over career milestones and concert numbers. Those scenes suggest a musical interested in more than showcasing Gloria Estefan’s most popular songs.
Those moments, however, remain fleeting. The evening repeatedly returns to its principal objective: delivering Gloria Estefan’s music with as much energy as possible. Guevara’s production embraces that objective with equal conviction. It is content to let the songs carry the experience, trusting their familiarity and exuberance to do much of the work that may make the theater-going experience a night to remember.
This reviewer watched the 8PM, July 8 gala.
Tickets: Php 3,600 – Php 6,600
Show Dates: July 10 – August 2, 2026
Venue: Proscenium Theater, Proscenium at Rockwell, Makati
Running Time: approx. 2 hours and 30 mins (w/ 15-min intermission)
Producer: 9 Works Theatrical
Creatives: Robbie Guevara (director), Daniel Bartolome (musical director), Nunoy van den Burgh (choreography), Raul Montesa (assistant director), Mio Infante (scenographer), Toma Cayabyab (vocal supervisor), Gabo Tolentino (lighting designer), Aron Roca (sound designer and sound engineer), Justin Santiago (video and projection designer), Sheik Completado (technical director), Elliza Aurelio (hair and makeup designer), Alexander Dinelaris (book), Emilio Estefan (music), Gloria Estefan (music), Miami Sound Machine (music)
Cast: Molly Langley, Kayla Rivera, Jason Canela, Ayen Laurel, Pinky Marquez, John Joven Uy, Vien King, Jani Magadia, Anyah de Guzman, Reese Iso, Althea Ruedas, Elian Santos, Manolo Villalva, Lorenz Martinez, Meliza Reyes Uy, Neo Rivera, Antonio Valdez, Altair Alonzo, Roxy Aldiosa, Rica Laguardia, Matthew Barbers, Carmelle Ros, Winchester Lopez, Cheska Quimno, Richardson Yadao, Macel Dofitas-Yadao, Gerhard Krysstopher, Lord Kristoffer Logmao, Jacqui Jacinto, Gianna Hervas, Roni Paderes
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