“On Your Feet”
Nottingham Theatre Royal

This musical is the true love story of Emilio and Gloria and charts their rags to riches journey from its origins in Cuba, onto the streets of Miami and finally to international fame.

It features some of the catchiest pop songs of the era, including ‘Rhythm Is Gonna Get You’, ‘Conga’, ‘Get On Your Feet’, ‘Don’t Want To Lose You Now’ and ‘1-2-3’. 26 songs in total.

The musical covers the period from her childhood to the bus crash in 1990 that left her with a broken back, and closes with her comeback performance at the American Music Awards in 1990, so there’s a lot to get through in the time given in this show.

I love a production that can turn me around and this is one that did. I am a big Gloria Estefan fan so was rearing to go with this one. The throbbing beats started and my foot started tapping, and then the music subsided, and so did my foot tapping, and then the beats started again, and then subsided. The musicians on stage were miming playing their instruments and that put me off.

There were sections, as we made our way through the musical that i felt could have been left out and some of the music was unknown, even to me.

But as we go through the story,and there was a bit of this story that I didn't know, so i immediately began to really take heed. By the start of Act Two, my opinion had changed and I really started to get into it.

This is not, as some people may think, just another "jukebox musical", as the story is a true one and is about someone who is still performing today, so the music is relevant to the time line of the story and the musical.These songs have not just been slotted in to fill a place.

The music and the choreography is incredible. It is packed with energy and the music is exciting, and when played live, sounds amazing and full of life.

Gloria Estefan is played by Philippa Stefani. She even sounds like Gloria if you close your eyes, but who would want to keep their eyes closed when Philippa looks as gorgeous as she does. She oozes energy

Emilio Estefan is played by George Ionnides, and we see him grow from a local musician to a man who delivered one of the biggest selling Latino artistes to the world. It's always interesting to hear a song that you recognise as a hit for a woman, sang by a man, and hearing him sing "Don't Wanna Lose You Now" took on a different perspective as he thought that he would be losing her after the bus crash.

Gloria's mum, also called Gloria, is played by Madalena Alberto, and you can see where Gloria got her talent from. Madalena also oozes that sex appeal, has a great voice and can dance up a storm.

Gloria's Gran, Consuela, was played by the understudy, Hollie Cassar tonight, and she was amazing. One thing I didn't realise is that Gloria's mother was against her becoming famous, but it was Gloria's Gran who helped push her Grand-Daughter's talents and helped her get that foot on the ladder. If you can imagine an all singing, all dancing Maureen Lipman, then that is close to this character and Hollie's performance. Everyone should have a Gran like Consuela.

Directed by double Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell, with choreography by Olivier Award-winner Sergio Trujillo.

I loved the projections used, (Darrel Maloney) and the scene where they celebrated under a sky of fireworks was so romantic.

I was expecting, by the stack of speakers visible, that this would be loud. It was loud but comfortably loud, but the volume only added to the excitement of the music and the dance.

The lighting design was all that I had expected it to be.Vivacious floods of colour which was a visual feast.

When you think of Latino music, the dance and the dancers, you then picture the costumes, and Emilio Sosa, the costume designer, did not disappoint.

The live band on stage created an aural delight, and once again, hearing this style of music played live on stage, takes on a special sound and feeling. They deservedly received a massive round of applause at the end of the show.

This massive ensemble really create a party atmosphere on stage. An atmosphere that spilled into the auditorium and made us want to dance to the infectious rhythms, which will definitely get you on your feet and conga-ing out into the streets.

“On Your Feet” is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 21 September.