The musical depicts the rise of the Estefans, who emigrated from Cuba.
Many people can say that one performer — or even one song — had a huge impact on their lives. For keyboardist Clay Ostwald, that performer was Gloria Estefan and the song was “Conga,” released in 1985.
Not only did the hit single signal a change in American pop music, it was the beginning of his musical collaboration with Estefan that has lasted for more than three decades. Ostwald toured the world as part of the Miami Sound Machine, in addition to writing, arranging and producing music for the group. Currently he’s working on a different kind of show that celebrates the music of Gloria Estefan — the Broadway musical On Your Feet!, which comes to Overture Center May 15-20.
When Gloria Estefan’s hits started climbing up the Billboard charts in the mid-1980s, Ostwald had recently graduated from college with a degree in studio music and jazz. Gloria and Emilio Estefan had left Cuba and were living and playing in Miami. “When she came out with ‘Conga’ she became an international sensation,” says Ostwald, who was, at the time, playing in a band of his own called The Company. One night the Estefans came to hear them and decided they had found the performers they needed to tour as the Miami Sound Machine. “We were all jazz musicians,” Ostwald says. “We had a broad musical vocabulary, and that gave her sound a lot of new tools. We were able to mix jazz fusion, Latin pop and R&B elements to create a new sound.”
Ostwald was unfamiliar with the musical theater genre, but he learned the ropes as the associate conductor for On Your Feet!, and was in the room from the very beginning. “I was at the first reading,” he says. “My job was to make sure the show retained the integrity of the music it was based around.” (The production features two dozen numbers, including the iconic “Get on Your Feet,” “Conga,” “1-2-3” and “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You.”). As a musician and conductor, he played on Broadway with On Your Feet! for two years. Now he’s playing keyboard and conducting the first American tour of the award-winning musical.
So what’s it like being part of musical that recounts your own career? “It’s kind of surreal,” says Ostwald, chuckling.
At time when immigration has become a hot-button issue, the show’s themes of cultural acceptance and understanding might resonate with audiences, says Ostwald. “There’s a lot of fun things, there’s humor, but there’s also a message underneath. It’s gratifying to see that the songs we wrote, that we thought were important, still have a big impact on people.”
