London On Your Feet! Star Christie Prades on Meeting Gloria Estefan, Making Her West End Debut & More

Cuban-American performer Christie Prades is headlining the London premiere of On Your Feet!, the Broadway musical about Gloria Estefan opening June 27 at the London Coliseum, following a short run at the Curve in Leicester. An alumna of the show Stateside, both in New York and on tour, the immediately likable Miami native was in expansive form when she spoke to Broadway.com, in the run-up to the start of West End previews.

Are you amazed at how much this musical has brought you—gigs on Broadway, the national tour and now in England [Leicester and then London ]?
I’m still trying to pinch myself. It’s really crazy and when you just mentioned it to me, I kind of got speechless. I think it’s all to do with the story we’re telling, which is so universal, and being able to ride the wave of that in so many places that people have dreamed of performing; I’m just so proud that the journey has been with this show.

Is this what you expected when you first joined On Your Feet! on Broadway?
You know, this show has made so many of my wildest, most undeserving dreams come true. It’s gone well over what I thought I would do with it, between making my Broadway debut and touring [the U.S.], and then getting to come here. I can’t thank Gloria enough for just believing in me so much to help make my dreams come true and to pave the way to make all these dreams happen.

After playing the part to devoted audiences around the States, including in your home town of Miami, were you apprehensive as to how an English public might respond?
I actually was more worried about them getting the lingo! Even though we’re both speaking the same language, they say things differently in the States compared to England: speech can be a lot more proper here, whereas we tend to let things go a little bit because of the slang. And with it being Latin on top of the American dialect, I wondered whether this might not feel too different to them.

What have you found during the actual performance while performing in Leicester?
They have been laughing at everything we wanted them to laugh at! I’d been told to be prepared for a more reserved audience with a different etiquette but what I found is that as we got closer to the end of the show, you could start seeing their faces change. It was as if they were going, “Oh man, we can react? We can join in?” That gets followed by an explosion of cheers louder than we had in the U.S. It’s been wonderful to see people react so positively.

Are you the only holdover from the American production?
Yes, everyone else is from scratch, which is kind of a beautiful thing. We’ve got 13 different nationalities with everyone bringing their own colors and splashes of light, and it just blends so beautifully. A lot of our cast hadn’t seen the show either and as a result has had no sense of what to fall back on and were just developing it for themselves.

Doesn’t that speak to the innate power of the material?
I know people think of us as a jukebox musical, but this has got so much more depth than just the concert aspect. Alex [Dinelaris, the bookwriter] has written the show so well that there are key points as well as tension where there needs to be, so that you may think you’re going to a song-and-dance show but you’re actually getting entertainment blended with the kind of reality we go through every day. The story tells itself.

What was your first meeting with the actual Gloria like?
I had to audition in front of her for the final callbacks on Broadway, which was the first place I met her, with all the producers and Jerry [Mitchell, the director] and Sergio [Trujillo, the choreographer] there, as well. I walked in and was, like, “Wow, this is some pressure,” and did a little bow and was sort of dying inside. Gloria didn’t say much but she gave me really good energy: she looked at me and was smiling and was nodding her head “yes,” and Emilio [her husband] was looking over at her and nodding with her.

Did you know then that you had the job?
I found out three days later. My agent called and said, “How would you like to be on Broadway?” and I was, like, “Shut the f**k up!” [Laughs]

How has it been adjusting your voice to Gloria’s voice?
I’ve been playing Gloria for so long that I think I’ve blended her voice into mine: what I have now are notes and little sounds of hers that come from having played this role for such a long time now. Gloria’s got a much lower tone than I do: she has a sound kind of like a trumpet or a horn. Mine is a little bit more airy, more melodic in a sense. Right now my voice feels like a blend between the two, and it’s been cool to transform my sound a little bit.

Is this your first time in Britain ?
It’s my first time ever in Europe—isn’t that crazy? It’s been on my bucket list to come here but I wasn’t expecting this kind of introduction. I’ve also found some half-British second cousins who I am going to meet. Isn’t that crazy, too? It’s just been so great.

Were you part of Gloria’s retinue at the recent Olivier Awards here in April?
I was! Gloria invited me, and it was such an incredible experience. I saw Adrienne [Warren] do her number from Tina, and the cast of [the musical] Six, who were just badass. And, oh my God, Sharon D. Clarke [Olivier winner for Caroline, or Change]: she was ridiculous; I got goosebumps!

Was anything special going on in the audience?
I sat in front of Sir Ian McKellen and at one point looked back at him and said “I’m so sorry, I need a photo,” and he was, like, “That’s OK, let’s do it.” I couldn’t believe there I was with seated with Gandalf and Magneto!

Do you ever think you’d like to convene the casts of, say, Tina, The Cher Show and Beautiful and trade notes on what it’s like to portray these iconic women?
I went to see The Cher Show and got to watch the three brilliant ladies who play her, and I was thinking the same thing. I’d love to sit down and talk with these women because we are probably the only ones who are feeling the way that we do.

Meaning?
When you build most shows, you can put your own voice on it, so that any Elphaba can hit the sound they like without hitting a sound people expect to hear. But with us, people come expecting a certain sound, so I’d love to gather a round table of these women to share our experiences and suggestions and advice.

Maybe you and Stephanie J. Block could have an icon face-off?
[Laughs] Stephanie’s a legend unto herself, but I do have this image of us doing that speech from Bridesmaids where both the girls are trying to take the mic from each other and show who’s boss. If we do it, I’ll tag you in.