Interview By Gina Margillo
Alexander Dinelaris ’13, the Academy Award-winning writer of the film Birdman, doubted he had what it took to tell the story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan. Their music—with Gloria’s 100 million records sold and the couple’s 26 Grammy awards—is an essential soundtrack to the history of Miami. But it’s also only part of their story. Theirs is a tale of a hardworking immigrant family who beat political, cultural, health, and family obstacles, to achieve unimaginable, worldwide success. It’s a tale that is at once universal and uniquely Miami.
Dinelaris, who is Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Armenian, is attracted to the challenge of telling immigrant stories. He tackled his grandmother’s trajectory from Armenia to New York in Red Dog Howls, for example. But the Estefans’? Telling the tale of a celebrity family with a tremendous cultural impact and regional influence is not an easy task. But maybe it was the challenge of Gloria herself that gave Dinelaris the courage to take it on. During their first meeting, Gloria, who is known for her small frame but mighty presence, sat him down, looked him in the eye, and said, “Your family is from Cuba right? Don’t disappoint them.” It was a challenge Dinelaris could not refuse.
The book, On Your Feet! The Story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan, and the play of the same name that followed, has resonated with audiences across the globe. It’s a tale that is both universal and uniquely Miami. After its world premiere in Chicago (2014), a Broadway run (2015-2017), and a world tour (2017), it returned to its Miami roots in 2022 at the Miracle Theater in Coral Gables, Florida.
Dinelaris’ book includes the less glamorous side of the Estefans’ success story, from the initial opposition of Gloria’s mother, to her music career and her marriage, to the anguish Gloria endured after a tour bus crash that injured her spine. But there’s a particular part of the play that Dinelaris is most proud of.
From a story Emilio shared about a record executive who once said that Emilio would have to change his name, Dinelaris wrote a monologue that has audiences bursting into applause at almost every show. Emilio says, “Change my name? It’s not my name to change. It’s my father’s name, my grandfather’s name. My grandfather who left everything behind in Cuba to come here and start a life. And for 15 years, I’ve worked my [expletive] off, and I paid my taxes. So I don’t know where it is you think I live, but this is my home. And you should look very closely at my face, because whether you know it or not, this is what an American looks like.” Dinelaris says, “As a writer, you feel lucky when audiences cheer in response to dialogue because it means you hit some sort of truth. The audience has felt something, and they let you know it.”
The Miami production of roughly 44 people has the largest number of Cuban-Americans and Miamibased artists and crew of any of the productions. This includes the two stars of the show, Claudia Yanez and Jason Canela; the choreographer, Natalie Carucho; the stage director, Andy Senor; and six musicians who were part of the Miami Sound Machine. Clay Ostwald, the show’s musical director, is an original member of the Miami Sound Machine, who moved to New York when “On Your Feet!” went to Broadway but returned home to Miami to be part of this production. This casting was deliberate so that the Miami production would fully resonate with Miami’s discerning audiences.
Miami native Adriel Garcia ’08 plays the role of Gloria’s father, Jose Fajardo. Like Dinelaris, Garcia is Cuban and Puerto Rican and an alumna of the Barry University Theater Program. Garcia credits this show with reconnecting him to his Cuban roots and emboldening him as a Latino actor. “Unlike any other show, this is a story that I have lived. Miami Sound Machine was the first concert I ever saw. The Estefans are artists, immigrants, and inspirational leaders who have shown me that anything is possible if you put your mind to it,” says Garcia.
When Garcia met his idols, it was a dream come true. He recalls how Gloria showed up unexpectedly to rehearsal. “She approached me and said, ‘Oh, you’re playing my dad? Just know you have some big shoes to fill.’” Remembering her words on opening night, with the Estefans in the audience, Garcia didn’t know how his nerves would hold up. “I took a breath, I prayed, and I told myself that everything was going to be fine. After the show, Gloria said, ‘Gorgeous voice. What you did up on that stage was just so beautiful. Thank you.’ Gloria was thanking me for my performance? It was all so surreal.”
On being part of the Miami production, he says, “There is an energy, a spirit that comes from everyone that is in this particular cast that I have never experienced in any other show. Everyone is so close to the story, the music, Miami, and the culture. There is also a collective connection.”
Though they have never met, Dinelaris and Garcia both credit their years in the Barry University Theater Program with preparing them for their careers in the entertainment industry. Garcia benefited from the simplified admission and financial aid process and personalized attention within the small department. Dinelaris recalls falling in love at first sight with the campus. “The campus was so beautiful and serene. I remember passing that church for the first time, and then I entered the theater, and I was in awe at how large and professional it was.” Dinelaris describes this time in his life as a bit of a disaster. “I could barely keep a roof over my head and spent some time on the streets, with little direction and no money.” Despite his troubled state, Professor Patricia Minnaugh believed in him more than he believed in himself. Dinelaris recalls, “Professor Minnaugh called me and said, ‘We want you here.’ They helped me get a full scholarship for classes and housing. They gave me the keys to the theater and said, ‘This is your playground. Create,’ and so I got busy producing shows, doing everything from writing to sound design.” He speaks with pride about how his “gang” of theater students, including his buddies Bobby Pierce ’84, John Manzelli ’93, Paul Tei ’91, Carlos Orisondo ’88, and Chaz Mena ’91, have done amazingly well on Broadway and in television and film. “One of the biggest regrets is that I didn’t graduate,” say Dinelaris. “I just didn’t have the discipline to be tied to a desk or study anything else but theater. Those two years at Barry gave me everything I needed. Barry University saved my life.” Barry University awarded him a Doctor of Fine Arts in 2016.
Throughout the Miami performance of “On Your Feet!” audiences interacted with the performers, cheering during Gloria and Emilio’s romantic scenes, singing along to the songs that formed a musical history of their lives, and, in some cases, verbally responding to the dialogue on stage. By the end of the show, people were out of their seats and dancing with the actors, long past the standing ovations. The animated crowd took its time in exiting the theater, as if to hold on to the collective energy for just a little longer. What was intended to be a musical had become an immersive, participatory theater experience. That is the proof that this Miami production has succeeded in touching the hearts of the people of Miami. In telling the story of the Estefans, Dinelaris had told their story as well.
