Figured I'd chime in with another report since there aren't too many posts on here...
Saw this about two weeks ago and had a very enjoyable night out! The music is the star of the show. They've assembled such a talented cast of musicians and actor-musicians and it's thrilling to hear that burst of sound in such a small space, especially when you pair it with the lively choreography. Highly recommend reading the cast bios at intermission because it's neat to see how varied everyone's backgrounds are. The show does a good job of setting the tone with the opening narration and by kicking off each act with rousing numbers that get the audience clapping and in a celebratory mood. As other posters have mentioned, the numbers are performed in Spanish, but I didn't find that to be a barrier to non-Spanish speakers enjoying the show. The context and reason for the songs were always clear, and the actors did a great job of emoting so the meaning of the songs came through. Honestly, as a non-speaker, I sometimes appreciated that I wasn't caught up trying to understand the lyrics and could just be transported by the sound. The design elements were another highlight for me, especially the lighting design. It's essentially one set, with a recording studio occasionally moving downstage when we're in the 90s. Between her costumes for this and her nineties designs for Hell's Kitchen, I've really been liking Dede Ayite's work these past few weeks.
The book was the weakest aspect of the show in my view. The flashes between past and present felt generally seamless, but some of the dialogue seemed clunky, especially the dialogue between Omara and her sister. The book scenes were stronger when they focused on the relationships between the characters but tended to be less deft when they focused on addressing the political climate in Cuba.
The end of the first act doesn't exactly propel you into intermission and I found myself wondering at intermission whether it could be a one act show, since there isn't much story momentum driving into act two. By the end of the show, though, I realized it probably would have been too much to listen to all that energetic music without interruption, so I get why there are two acts to give the musicians and audience a break. Having two acts could feel more necessary, however. The main quibble I had with the second act was that
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Young Omara's arc could have been developed better. A lot happens during the second act—her sister flees Cuba, Omara signs with a colorist record label, and the club is shut down—so I'd expect to feel like I'm watching the character grow up in front of my eyes, but I didn't feel that very strongly. I especially felt this during the scene closing down the club—the staging was effective and felt significant, but the actress's performance of the song she records during this scene could have shown more visible character development. I suppose what I'm getting at is, I didn't feel as much of a connection between the younger and older Omara as I did with the older and younger versions of the other characters, and I felt like Kenya Browne (the actress palying younger Omara) could have done a better job of bridging that gap in the second act as she deals with so many challenges.
Though they're very different shows, some aspects made me think of The Band's Visit, namely the fact that the instrumentals felt so woven into the fabric of the show, plus (spoilers related to the ending)
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the framing line spoken by Juan the producer at the beginning and end—something in the vein of "this happened thousands of miles away but this kind of music tends to travel"—reminded me of the "it wasn't very important..." line in TBV. And if I'm remembering TBV right, the show ended with Tewfiq about to conduct the orchestra, there's a blackout, and then we get the concert during curtain call. Here, the full group is ready to record altogether, the producer says his framing line, blackout, and the show wraps up with curtain call and a reprise of Candela.
Overall I had a wonderful time, as did the audience around me. It was a very enthusiastic crowd, with two partial standing Os during the show and lots of folks bopping their heads along to the music throughout. I heard positive buzz around me on the way out, so I'm not surprised that the rest of the run seems well-sold.
To add a data point on rush, my TodayTix rush seat was first row on the side. Some minor obstructions when the actors would block each other, otherwise no issues.
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