Broadway in Wichita’s ‘On Your Feet!’ tells the musical story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan

In the year and a half that Kristen Tarrago has been with the touring company of “On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio & Gloria Estefan,” it’s happened somewhere between 15 and 20 times.

And it might happen next weekend, when the musical bio of the 1980-’90s singer is on stage at Century II for the Broadway in Wichita series.

The singer-actress, who already plays Gloria Estefan’s mother, Gloria Fajardo, gets the call to play the singer herself.

“It’s been so much fun. I love going on as Estefan,” said Tarrago, the understudy to the show’s lead, Gaby Albo, who gets to sing Estefan and Miami Sound Machine hits such as “Rhythm is Gonna Get You,” “Conga” and “Coming Out of the Dark.”

“I’m a very spiritual person and I have a great relationship with God,” Tarragó said from a tour stop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. “When I find out I’m about to go on, I get on my knees and say, ‘OK, God, let’s do this. Do not leave my side. Let’s go today and do everything I’m ready for.’”

Tarragó said she considers herself already ready at a moment’s notice.

“Even though I do it all the time, I’m still watching from the wings,” she said. “I love to dance when I watch from the wings. It’s something I really enjoy doing. I’m always staying prepared, so when days like that happen, it’s not such a shock.”

She’ll run lines with the cast members she interacts with as Gloria Estefan and go through the duets in the score.

Tarrago is a different size than Albo, she said, so she has her own set of costumes and wigs.

“I’m praying that the costumes are being put into place,” she said.

“On Your Feet” ran on Broadway from 2015 to 2017 and has had successful runs in the Netherlands and London’s West End.

The musical flashes back to Gloria Estefan’s childhood, with her mother – usually played by Tarrago – trying to dissuade her from a career in music.

“The true story is that her mom didn’t really approve of her pursuing a musical career. She wanted her to concentrate on school. (Music) was more of a hobby,” Tarrago said. “Later we find out that Gloria’s mother was a singer as well in Cuba and that she was even scouted by Hollywood agents to be the Spanish voice of Shirley Temple. When she has that flashback scene, it’s a really cool number where you see Gloria’s mother as a performer...”

Gloria Fajardo gets quite a bit of stage time, Tarragó said.

“She’s pretty prominent in Act One, and there’s a flashback scene and it’s so cool that I get to ‘age down’ to my actual age,” she said with a laugh. “I get a really beautiful number in the show called ‘Mi Terra,’ and after that number’s over I’m done with the act.

“In Act Two, it covers the horrible (1990) tour bus accident the Estefans had, and the mom is there for the healing, and in the end, it’s a big party,” she added.

Tarrago said she didn’t need much of an introduction to the music of Miami Sound Machine, whose identity was later altered under the name of the singing star.

“I grew up in Miami, Florida, and my mom was part of a freestyle ’80s group. So music was very big in my house growing up,” she said. “I, of course, knew Gloria Estefan from her music, but I didn’t realize how big of a superstar she is until we were on this tour and we meet people from all over who tell us how much her music meant to them.”

Tarrago and her castmates got to meet Gloria and Emilio Estefan one night on a tour stop in Naples, Florida.

“They were so lovely,” she recalled. “We thought we would just stand in line and take pictures with them and they’d have to go. But they were so cool. They stayed and chatted with us for hours.

“I even saw her assistant go up to her to tell her the car was outside waiting for them. She said, ‘Have them wait,’ and they stayed and closed out the venue with us at midnight,” Tarrago added. “They’re so personable and so very, very cool – and humble.”

‘ON YOUR FEET! THE STORY OF EMILIO & GLORIA ESTEFAN’

When: 8 p.m. Friday, March 15; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, March 16; 1 p.m. Sunday, March 17

Where: Century II Concert Hall, 225 W. Douglas

Tickets: $40-$115, from the Century II box office, selectaseat.com or 316-755-7328