Get On Your Feet! and Head to PPAC

The hit musical On Your Feet will be presented at Providence Performing Arts Center from January 30 through February 4. On Your Feet tells the inspiring story of pop music superstar Gloria Estefan, who with her husband, Emilio, was responsible for several hits in the 1980s and ’90s, including “1-2-3,” “Conga,” “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You” and “Get On Your Feet.”

Broadway veteran Nancy Ticotin plays Gloria Fajardo, the headstrong and controlling mother of Gloria Estefan, who left Cuba in search of a better life in the United States. Ticotin said Fajardo was jealous of her daughter’s success in the music business and “resented” Emilio. “She was awful to him,” Ticotin explained. “Even after they got married, she was really disrespectful to him and mean to him.”

However, Fajardo became much closer to her daughter and son-in-law after Estefan was badly injured in a tour bus crash. “(Fajardo) finds Emilio in a closet crying,” Ticotin said. “From that moment on, she saw he never left (Estefan’s) side.

“There’s a beautiful song in the second act, (If I Never Got to Tell You) that is the only song written for the show,” Ticotin continued. “That’s the drama in the story that most people don’t know, which is what makes (On Your Feet) more interesting.”

Ticotin has plenty of stage experience, including appearances in The King and I, West Side Story, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway and Damn Yankees.

On Your Feet has been striking a chord with audiences due to the continuing debate about immigration in our country, Ticotin noted. “We have a mission in our show to spread the word how hardworking we are as immigrants,” Ticotin said. “They sacrificed, did things with no money at all and became extremely famous and rich. This is the true American dream. It still exists. It’s still possible and that is what we all hope for.”

On Your Feet will be performed January 30 through February 4 at Providence Performing Arts Center. For tickets, visit ppacri.org.