iTunes Exclusive Episode On Your Feet

If you're hearing the sound of my voice, it means the following conditions have been
met at least once you've checked out the Clubhouse podcast live every Sunday night,
seven Eastern for Pacific, your one stop shop for all things pop culture. But it also means you've
checked out our little show on your favorite podcast app, because it is time for yet another.
I tune exclusive number 354. We ain't stop anytime soon. That's how we get down, that's how we roll.
Welcome. My name is Rob. I am the executive producer of the Clubhouse podcast and I am so excited
to talk about our subject today. But I'm not alone joining me in the co-host chair as he does,
because he is my co-host, is a man that's going to keep on counting until you say he's yours.
Boy, I screwed that up. Chad's here. Wow, I got a little tongue tied.
That didn't take long, did it? Next to him is a man that we could say the rhythm is going to get
him, but it never let go of him since Mama Mia three years ago. You may know him is fond on
go, but as Mama named him Don Ford, I'm going to call him Don Ford. He is the official fact checker
of this show. I'm going to get you, rhythm is going to get you, rhythm is going to get you.
How much money would you pay for karaoke, Don? I don't know. I'd pay a lot not to ever hear it.
I want to see it. You go right on the head of the fact. You can do it. Rounding out the day is a man that
was not present for what we're about to talk about. Only Chad and I were able to just send this,
but there's a specific reason that I wanted him here for this because he will identify with the
subject of this particular episode almost as much as I do. Alex is here. There is a South Florida vibe.
There is all brother and we're going to talk about it. Whenever we do one of these things,
it is to review something and we are reviewing a stage production currently in Dallas, Fort Worth,
but there are multiple touring companies around the world that are currently putting on right here
in our burger until March 11th on your, get on your feet. Actually, it's on your feet.
The Emilio and Gloria Estefan Broadway musical. From what starts this whole thing? Yes, sir.
Yeah, I think Paul, everybody at Dallas summer musicals musicals. Thank you guys so much for
giving us the opportunity. As they do, they let us see stuff before, you know, this was opening night
of this particular production that we got to go see at the beautiful music college fair park.
What a great venue. We talk about that venue a lot and how you can just feel the history
when you walk into music hall. And hopefully, we're going to be there doing a live show here in about
60 days or so. If you believe it's almost time for that, sir. I know. I'm excited. We're hoping
we're going to get on that pretty soon. So this was on Broadway for that all won the Tony for
best choreography. It was on Broadway. Did you know? And if you know this, don't say you're going
to guess it just some you know it. Do you know how many Grammy Awards Gloria Estefan owns? No,
more than Elvis. I don't know how many Elvis has. One. Well, then yes, more than Elvis. Do I
take a guess? Eight. Over triple that. 26 time Grammy winner. Good Lord. That's doing work.
She does work. I mean, she really, really does. She is one of my favorite artists in the history of
ever. And this is a musical based on her life, her meeting her husband Emilio, them getting,
you know, what was originally the Miami Latin boys was then turned into the Miami sound machine,
which then turned into Gloria Estefan and the Miami sound machine, which then turned into Gloria Estefan.
It basically chronicles her life up until the 1991 American Music Awards. That's where the story
ends. Yes. So it does deal with the bus accident, her recovery. And it's at that American Music
Awards where she took the stage back for the first time and performed coming out of the dark,
which is such a beautiful song. We've made no bones on this show. And I say this in my written
review currently located at www.theclubhousepodcast.com. That's our website. I have lived in Texas now.
Just this past month celebrated 23 years in the state of Texas. That's hard to believe. That is
actually seven years longer than I lived in the Fort Lauderdale area, just in time in Tampa too.
No matter how long I live here and believe me, I make no bones. I love living here. I love living
in Texas. I do enjoy Texas very, very much. I will always be a South Florida boy at heart.
That's where my roots are. When I say home, that's what I'm talking about. My roots are there.
So when I found out that this musical was coming to town, I could not have been more excited.
Because this is, and I said this to you at the break, this is the soundtrack to my formative
years. Yes, exactly. And I am a huge Gloria Estefan fan. Crushed pretty hard on her for many, many years.
You realize she's 60? No, well, it, yeah. And looks amazing. Yeah, she does.
In this particular production, she is played as an adult by Kristi Pradesh. There are multiple
people playing the kids, but we were never quite told which one we saw that night.
The girl that played her as a young, young woman, amazing, amazing voice.
Emilio played by Mauricio Martinez. He's in some telenovelas and stuff as well. I kind of looked up
his fine work. I'm just going to put it out there. I loved this. I loved it. And you know, going
into this, I was prepared to harshly judge this musical. Yeah, the bar was set pretty high. Because,
again, this, her music being from South Florida, this is a big deal to me. It's a huge deal to me,
because I don't want that misrepresented. For the first time in a long time,
I went to an entertainment production that made me homesick.
Yeah, that makes total sense. From the scenes when she's a young woman living in Miami,
she's, you know, her parents were Cuban refugees. His, his parents were Cuban refugees.
Like, there's a scene where they're, she's singing as a young lady to somebody who lives in her
neighborhood. Seeing a song, no, I can't sing a song. And then he hums something and she's just
okay, I'm going to say, like I could smell. It just brought back smells of living in the area.
The other a bus. I'm a new food had to work. I'm food. There's nothing like it in the,
I'm told there's a place up on the north side. We may have to go check out. We're going to have to
hunt that though. Um, I love Cuban food. And I mean, just seeing how they portrayed
everything, choreography, razor sharp in this. Her, her age transition, I thought was cool.
The costuming is dead on like some of the outfit she wears. I'm like, I remember that video. I
remember seeing that performance. I remember that album cover, her wearing that on that album cover.
And a lot of people don't understand that she and Emilio are really the ones responsible
for opening the door for people like Jennifer Lopez, like Ricky Martin. Because radio,
Spanish is Spanish, English is English, and Nair Shava to meet. Now like people like Julio
Eglaceus, that was, you know, that was richy balanced. That was a, that was an anomaly. Right.
And they portray that in this production of how they wanted to cross over and the label wouldn't do
it. Because they said it would never work. So when they did Dr. Beat, which is not one of my
more favorite songs, but you have to put it in the context of the time, they marketed it themselves.
Yeah, it was gorilla marketing of the, and it's in its purish form. And I will tell you, there's a
moment in the first act where I marked out like a seven-year-old. And this is the point where I'm
going to ask Don to open the closet in the studio. Because inside the closet in our studio,
there is a toy box. And on that toy box, there is a bumper sticker.
That bumper sticker, no, down, that's on the toy box. On that bumper sticker is the logo of a
radio station known as Y100. This was my station growing up. As the first station I ever listened to,
to the point where every time I go back, I still make the mistake of trying to put it on 100.7.
And it doesn't work. But this was my station growing up. And as they're trying to market Dr. Beat,
they go to Y100. And as they do, the logo is projected onto the wall. No, that logo of the dolphin
jumping through the Y, which looks like a goal post. But now I did get taken out of it because
underneath it, it said 100.7. I'm like, it wasn't that back then because that didn't exist. But
I saw the Y100 logo and they're the Q105 logo, the Spanish station. They showed that one too. And I was
like, where was I during this? Oh, it was so great. They were that genuine to it. They were showing
you, they showed you the names of the clubs they were going to. And it was just, I was like, okay,
no, Jasper, good mercy, son. Jasper, the attack cat almost turned everything. I don't know,
I just do lava trunks down. I mean, it was, I'm telling you, I marked out like a child.
I was like, this is amazing. You now have me like, you could do nothing but Engelbert Humberting
covers from the next hour and a half at I'm fine. I'm good. I kind of doubt that. But I mean,
that's how, that's how bought in I was at that point because now you're showing me factual
things that I can verify. And you also have to understand that Y100 was the one that was
willing to take risks on young before there was power 96 because power 96 would pick up the mantle
and run with it eventually. Why? I mean, and even why 100 was resistant at first. Right.
They ended up having to go to St. Louis and then work their way out.
But it spans now from musically it spans from the beginning up through 2003, even though the story
ends in 1991 because reach is in there. Right. Um, wrapped is in there. But the music,
there's a live band on stage at the beginning or you know, because they open with her doing the
concert in DC that night and they're doing the rhythm is going to get you. But once we go to the
narrative, the stage backs up and a drop comes in front of the band. So you don't see the band unless
it's a performance piece, which I respected. Yeah. I thought that was really cool. I dug that a lot.
That's a really good way of doing it. And stay authentic to it. And it's a full, full horns,
full percussion. And they were amazing. You to duck. I mean, and the stage setup as you walk in,
it looks like if there's a lighting truss that comes over the stage and that lighting lights up the
room when it wants to, it's so well done. My only critique and the only reason I have this critique
is because it's me chronologically, certain songs are put in certain places that I know like this
didn't happen till way later. But it has to work. It has to work into the story. Um, both of your
leads are really strong in this. Now, unfortunately, you and I couldn't talk much about it because we were
on opposite ends of the theater. Like I came over during intermission to talk to you guys real quick.
If there was ever a production, I wanted to be really, really close to you. Do you agree? I was,
I was, let's be clear, I was not singing along to every song. I was lip syncing along to every
song to be respectful to the people around me. But I loved this musical. Now, now realize that you
and I are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum. Absolutely. Which is why I was glad you were there.
I know Don couldn't make it. Don had a, had some issues he had to take care of and he sent his
best. So I've never been a giant fan of Gloria Estefan in Miami Sound Machine. Mainly because I have
a really bad memory of one song that was featured in this thing that just haunts me. Which one?
Anything for you. Oh, bad breakup. And it was played and it was sung by my ex at a choir concert.
So that has been like acid in my mouth for you. And he, and he sings a piece of it too. Yeah.
Which I thought was neat. It's what they do with that is that's her audition. The first time she
sits in with the Miami Latin boys. She plays that song that she had just written. And I, I had,
my, my bar was on the floor. I was even that day, even all day yesterday. I was like, I am really
just not looking forward to this. And for, for, for also for reference, my sophomore year in high
school, Congo was our opener for marching band. But in, to me, it was a little, a, a little bit
slow to get off the ground. It's just a little bit. And there's a lot of ground work that's being
done here. And I had a few issues with Mauricio's accent. I know that that kind of became a running
joke throughout the entire production. But it got to the point where like it sounded like a mashup
of Count Chocula and Zorro. He does, it does get a little, a little drolly. Yeah. If that's a word,
like, he sounded like he was channeling George Hamlin. But, but if you heard in the opening,
because Gloria and Emilio do an, a voiceover in the opening to have return their cell phones off.
Yeah. It's kind of how we talk. Yeah. But I mean, it's, literally, it sounded like a more
basic version of speedy Gonzalez. I was like, you don't have to go that over the top of it.
Surely that's not the, how they got the actor that naturally talks. I mean, I know he's a
Hispanic actor, but I don't think he's that, you know, he's, yeah, yeah. I was like, okay,
you know, we can, we can back off of that a little bit. And I know they did it for comedic effect
in a lot of cases. Can we send a shout out to Deborah Cardona to playing her friend mother?
She was, she was, Abolita was in the building. Yeah, she was real. She was in danger of hijacking
that entire. There, there's a scene where they're trying to market. And she rolls up on a character
named Big Pakito, who runs a club. And she's like in an overcoat. And she's like, she's like,
going to pay the record. He's like, do you have what I need? And she gives him this paper bag,
which, you know, you're thinking it's payola. And there's food in there. And he's just eating.
I was like, I guess I just want to talk to you. And she's like, there's never here.
Abolita brings it. Yeah. And the first act ends with Konga blowing up.
One of the best curtain drops on a, on a first act I've seen in that building. Yes.
There's, I mean, I think even if you had set the bar higher, I think it would have exceeded
your expectation. Yeah. I mean, because I mean, like, I kind of felt like I really didn't have a
dog in the hunt. And it was going to have to try really hard to win me over. But like I said,
by the time that thing hit it's tried in the middle of act one, I was, I was gone. I was done.
And they're, they're certain songs that. Of hers that just hit me where I live.
Literally, literally, yeah, literally, and figuratively. And there were a couple of moments that I was
like. Oh, oh, no, there was, there was a moment in particular. Here we are is because cuts both
ways is my favorite album of hers. Cuts both ways was released when I was a junior in high school.
And it's one of those albums that defined an era. Well, no, I didn't want to go
Carter Pewter Schmidt and say it was the soundtrack to my 89 and my 90. But now was, was,
was here we are, but no, no, no, no, here we are on couples cuts both ways. Okay, no, no, no,
I'm saying what scene are you referring to? It's as they're falling in love. Okay, no, no.
The scene that crushed me, although you talk about them over the fireworks in the background.
Yes. Okay. That was pretty darn impressive. The hospital scene where that's the original song that
was written for the musical. That's if I never told you dude that yeah, I was well executed.
Oh my god. Because you're doing different. We have multiple people doing different, different
melodies in some cases. That was one of those that like I knew from jump. I'm like, this was written
for the musical because it's very musically and and you could tell the way it's juxtaposed
during the scene that they do touch on the cover album. She's actually done too. But they,
you do have a little bit in the in the finale, you have a medley. So you have turned the beat
arounds in there as well as ever lasting love. Yeah, are both in there. The scene where
he reminds her of who she is when she comes into the gym the next morning. Yeah. Like,
I'm like well played. Yeah, you know, Alex has a question. I actually wanted to chime in with it.
Is it the shoot? I just lost it. But was it the duet version with Emilio and Gloria?
Which one? Doing the endless love? No, not end the love of a lasting love. But they both do sing
on that. Yes. Because he does a bit of it. They do it together. Man, that guy can sing. God,
he's really good. Don, any questions so far you're over here? Yeah, my question is what would be your
biggest complaint of this? Both just the placement of some of the songs. I mean, there were,
there were a couple of technical issues here and there. But especially in reach,
which she did for the 90 was at the 96 Olympics. Oh gosh, don't. That was used in the Olympics.
I want to say it was 96. I'm not sure. There are five different people singing that song because
that's connected to, and the scene I was talking about is when she comes into the gym and Emilio has
taken all of the cards and letters that people have sent her in recovery and put them on the wall.
And so as she's reading, she pulls a couple off the wall and as she's reading them, the people that
wrote them are actually reading it for her. They step out of it. And so that they go into reach.
And so each one of them sings a piece of that song. I thought that was brilliant. There were,
so there were some technical issues there just because there was so much juggling back and forth
of the, of the vocals. But the people that were singing it were strong enough that the vocals
carry through the house. Yeah. I mean, you're really having to pick nits to find something wrong
with it. So how were the sets though overall? Was it a big set with the last stages or
with the transition? Well, it was, it was more than the color purple. Okay. But it was less than
fan of the opera. I mean, there are, there are two large walls basically. One with lattice work
on it and it was, and it turned around. Yeah. Yeah. So on one side, it would be like a canvas
that you would project an image on to. And on the other side, it was the, the only way I can
describe it now, it's can help me here. It's that art deco shutter lattice work. Yeah. Oh,
it looks like a blind. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The Bahamas are that's what I'm talking about.
And those are on the other side that they, and they used, they really good use of those too,
because they had windows and inside those windows were LEDs. Oh. So when they come back,
yeah, you know, as act two starts, they go back and do kanga again. And they're lit up and do
all that. Yeah. Was this a live band? Because you said there was one at the beginning.
Yeah. No, it's the live band all the way through. They bring them back out in their
bands. How was the balance between voice and music? Dead on. Dead on. Yeah.
Especially, I'll say, and one of the hardest things to do in a production like this,
when you're dealing with this kind of music is a flamenco guitar. The flamenco guitar is a very
tough thing to pull off, especially into a musical. Killed it. Especially during anything for you.
Because they go into a instrumental break. And the guy's off camera or off stage. And that
flamenco comes through so clean. I can feel the hair on the back of my neck standing up right now.
God. I hope you get a chance to see this. There's part of me that's like, are you overselling this?
And then there's another part of me that's like, I can't oversell this. Because this musical is so
good. It's so well done. Like, I don't. And the weird thing for me is, you know,
because sometimes you'll see a touring company and you would go, you know, I'd really like to see
the Broadway cast kind of okay with it. Yeah. Like this cast. No, it was involved in that.
Not really anybody that I'd recognize when I looked it up on Wikipedia. But like this cast is so
strong that I was at no point was like, like, you know, I think I could see that better. I mean,
everybody in this thing top to bottom is amazing. I don't know if I could think of anyone that
we've seen that could do a better job than these guys did. I was this is so well done.
There were moments where a song would queue up. And I was like, oh man, like, because music has
that power that you can hear a song. And it can take you to a specific time and a specific place
on a specific day in a specific area. And so much of her music is that for me because I am a,
you know, down since the day one, I don't know who she was. You know, quick transition for that.
13 year old me first time I understood what was going on with the Olympics. It was 1996,
the closing ceremony. Okay. So it wasn't I remember doing the mark out because it was one of,
you know, because I have, I have this close. Yeah, I have the CD single for that. The maxi
higher. No, for reach at the closing ceremony. No, I have her her maxi single for reach. Okay.
Which is it's got like three different remixes. I've been on it. I mean, I mean, just
going down this song list, it's just like, where is it? I go too far. I went too far. Yeah,
I went too far. I'm just going to run it down one, two, three, anything for you coming out of the
dark. Con los Alufos, Kemi, Keidan, Konga, Kwanda, Salilady, Cuba, Cuba, Libre. Don't want to lose
you. Dr. Beat, everlasting love. Famous. Get on your feet. Here we are. I see your smile. I see
your smile. Destroyed me. Emilio sings that. Oh, yeah. Oh, God. I know if I never got to tell you
the original song live for loving you, which is one of my favorite songs of hers. And they didn't
do enough of it in my opinion. Mietiata, Oye, Oye, Mikanto, which is another one of my favorite.
Party time is one that I'm kind of... Party time is a little too commercial for me, but I'll take it.
Reach rhythm is going to get you to the DC on, turn the beat around when someone comes into your
life and rap. All of that is in this. And it's it's brilliantly done. It's a wonderful musical.
I cannot say enough good things. And I'm glad you enjoyed it because you were going to be the
brother because my bar was set high going in. Your bar was set low. And this has a very quick run
here in the Dallas Fort Worth area. It's only about a week and a half. Yeah, I was doing the math
while you were talking. I was like, okay, it's the first. I got 10 days.
Get to the final analysis because I don't have anything else you need to know.
No, you got me. Then let's get to the final analysis. And this is a stage production. So this is
going to be a little bit different. We're not going to give you, there's still not going to give you
thumbs up, thumbs down. We're still not going to give you letter grades, numbers. We're not going
to give you like Blathanos anything like that. You don't know. Congo drums. We can do we can
walk through that either. Plus, you need to get you some fried Blathanos. What are those?
They're there. He's type of banana. Man, you might know him as plantains. Yeah, my wife
picks five tades all the time. Plant them. Some of my favorites. But they're better. Okay. All right.
I'm getting off track. Um, this is like our third episode tonight and I haven't had dinner yet.
So we're going to ask up to two questions. Questions number one is would we see this again?
If the answers know we're done here, but if the answer is yes, since this is a stage production,
this is a little bit different. The question becomes where would you sit because the closer to the
stage, you sit, the higher the ticker price, the more you value it. I'm going to defer to you. Yes,
yes. I'm going to defer to you. But where? Wherever Alex wants to sit. Somebody knows how this
works. I want to go and watch him freak out. Dude, I can, again, I cannot say enough good things.
And let's be clear on something here. Our vendors are very clear to us that they want our honest
opinions. If we don't like something, they want us to say it. I can't say that. No, and there's,
there's no reason or no need to share. No, let me ask you this because again, yes,
anywhere you can get in the building, sit on the roof if you have to. I don't care.
When you left, were you compelled to seek out more of her stuff? Yes. I'm not going to lie.
Because that's a barometer, too, because you said you were at best a casual fan going into this.
And I will, I will be interested to see as you get deeper into her catalog.
To see some of your reactions to things like, wow, this was because you have to understand
back then, and we're running along. I don't care. Back then, the way radio worked, L.A.
Chicago, New York, Miami got everything first. Well, I first moved out here. There was a song that
became popular. I'm like, we've been doing that for six months. So I can guarantee you, and I would
put money on the fact that there are songs that were hits for her that you have probably never heard.
Probably not. Even when you were in Europe, in Europe, 10s, you know, I was a
priming example. Killer was huge over there. It wasn't that big here. I guarantee you there's
stuff that you got like, you know what? I didn't know that was her. I have such a deeper admiration
and respect for this woman. The woman is made of iron. And she's amazing. And this, oh, this
musical is so good. Go see it. Like, if you're in the car, just turn around and go to music, call
a fair park before March 11th. Unless they're already on their way too. Yeah. Yeah, you know, keep going.
And if you're anywhere, this thing's going to play you need to go because it's amazing. It's
absolutely phenomenal because it is on your feet, the Emilio and Gloria, a step on Broadway musical.
Boy, it's hoping. Yes, you would go take Paul at your baked house from these calls. We use
the whole fair park. All right. That being said, let's do the plugs. Visit our website,
www.theclubhousepodcast.com. It's where you can find our written reviews as well.
All three words in that order. You wind up somewhere else. Follow us on social media.
Twitter is at clubhouse show. Everything else is at the clubhouse podcast. Again, all three words.
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You know, don't for information how we can come do a live show for you. We love doing live shows
and hanging out with the empire. You can email me questions, comments, concerns. I'm going to go
pound sand. I am Rob at clubhousepodcast.com. I am chat at clubhousepodcast.com.
Sherlock Parker is on Pinterest because we're morally obligated to say that.
Jewels want me to set the house. Faith Fords at the house. Sensational shunnies at the house.
Our normal show every Sunday night, seven Eastern four Pacific is your one stop shop for
all things pop culture. Or just keep listening on your favorite podcast app. You can close up like
this. So until next time for the crew, I am Rob. Clubhouse is closed. Brittany Palmer,
Dancing at Konga. Come on, baby.