Estefan bio-musical ‘On Your Feet!’ making Broadway splash

The story could belong to thousands of families who left Cuba for Miami. Or anywhere for anywhere, hoping for a life of freedom and opportunity.

Striving and struggle, painful separations from family and homeland, the roller coaster of love and loss — those are the plot points in a simple, familiar story. Except this story happens to belong to Gloria and Emilio Estefan, and it’s being played out at Broadway’s Marquis Theatre eight times a week in the new musical On Your Feet!.

The newest creative venture in the Miami superstar couple’s multifaceted body of work will get a thumbs up or down (or sideways) from the New York critics after its official opening night on Thursday. But as far as preview audiences are concerned, the biographical jukebox musical — part Broadway, part sizzling concert — is already a hit.

For the week ending Oct. 25, On Your Feet! sold 11,825 tickets, breaking the $1 million mark at $1,096,202. It’s the first big musical since the red-hot Hamilton to show that level of box-office muscle. These days, thanks to a show that has stylistic roots in both Fiddler on the Roof and Jersey Boys, Times Square at 46th Street is looking and sounding a lot like the 305.

And for the artists involved who hail from or who have lived in South Florida — including the Estefans; book writer Alexander Dinelaris; stars Ana Villafañe and Andréa Burns; actors Henry Gainza, Nina Lafarga, Natalie Caruncho, Eric Ulloa, Lee Zarrett and Omar Lopez-Cepero; associate director Andy Señor Jr. and six members of the Miami Sound Machine — there is immense pride in bringing a show that celebrates their cultural and musical heritage to Broadway.