What started as a kernel of “some kind of legacy production” built up over 10 years until “On Your Feet!” — the story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine — landed on Broadway.

Some of the biggest names from stage and screen came on board to make it happen: Director Jerry Mitchell (“Kinky Boots”), choreographer Sergio Trujillo (“Jersey Boys”) and writer Alexander Dinelaris (Oscar-winning “Birdman”), along with the Nederlander name and co-producers including Pittsburgh CLO.

The music and the story were already there for the taking.

When the tour of “On Your Feet!” arrives Tuesday, the Benedum Center will shake with the pulsating rhythms and contagious beats of Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine, with songs including “Conga,” “Rhythm is Gonna Get You” and “Get on Your Feet!” — the “Get” was dropped for the Broadway show.

The narrative is fueled by the lasting love of the Estefans, who have been married nearly 40 years, and their humble roots in Cuba before climbing the charts in the U.S.

Clay Ostwald, Miami Sound Machine keyboardist, songwriter and producer for more than 32 years, credits writer Dinelaris’ script with capturing “the immigrant American dream story very effectively and making it more than just a jukebox musical.”

The book was written first, and then came the poring over the music catalog to find the perfect fit for song and situation.

“Gloria and Emilio’s careers have been through many different eras and stylistic genres, from very pop-sounding commercial music to salsa-Latin pop to R&Bish-sounding pop to Latin pop ballads and all the way into Latin folkloric Cuban music. And then South American music and explorations into Caribbean music. … So the history of Gloria’s career represents all that,” Mr. Ostwald said.

To transfer the Estefans’ story to the stage, Mr. Ostwald assisted with the orchestrations and is one of five members of the original group who populate the onstage band.

“[In 2014] Gloria and Emilio asked me to go represent the music in the New York process of developing the show, and I was thrilled, although I had no experience on Broadway,” he recalled.

He soon discovered that everyone was on the same page.

“From the beginning, the creative team had very intentional priorities to make the music authentic and represent the music of Gloria and the band, and the history, and that was very enticing to me to be involved.”

When the tour comes to Pittsburgh, he will be in his usual place, with a band that fades upstage or comes into view downstage, depending on the situation.

The Miami Sound Machine was founded by Emilio Estefan as the Miami Latin Boys, before Gloria became the frontwoman for the band and it rocketed to success.

Mr. Ostwald was at the keyboard in the 1980s, playing with some college friends, when the Estefans came to Rick’s Cafe in South Miami.

“Gloria and Emilio came to hear our band, and hired five of us as part of the touring band and recording band from that point on.”

He chuckled and added, “It’s funny, every once in a while I run into YouTube videos from 1987-88, that era of the first chemistry of Gloria and Emilio coming together. It’s really quite amazing to see that after all these years, how in retrospect you see it as very significant. At the time we were just having fun, but it was a pretty amazing time.”

Mr. Ostwald has been making music and writing with bass player Jorge Casas, the Miami Sound Machine music director, since 1981.

“The first song we wrote for them, with our guitar player, John DeFaria, was ‘Get on Your Feet,’ which became a really big hit,” he said matter-of-factly.

It peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard charts in 1989, and charted for 17 weeks.

There were hard times that interrupted the string of hits. A 1990 crash, when the band’s bus was hit by a truck on a snowy road near Scranton, left Gloria with a broken vertebra, and Emilio and their son Nayib, then 9, with injuries.

Six months later, she was back in front of audiences. In 1996, she performed “Reach” at the Olympic Games, and two years later, she and the Sound Machine performed at the Super Bowl XXXIII halftime show. It was in Miami, of course.

In December, when Gloria Estefan became a Kennedy Center honoree, the cast of “On Your Feet!” performed as part of her tribute.

In telling her story, the team strived for “genuine authenticity.” Mr. Ostwald said.

“People that know about Gloria, they know there is a happy ending, so there’s no big surprises in that. In the show, the struggles are as real and tangible and significant as possible, then set into a musical so that they are meaningful and are overcome in a joyful manner.”

Mr. Ostwald has played the music on concert tours and in recording sessions, for eight shows a week on Broadway and now on tour.

It never gets old, he said. Part of the fun is watching the audiences watch them — and don’t be surprised if there’s a conga line in the aisles before they’re done.

Sharon Eberson: seberson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1960. Twitter: @SEberson_pg.

First Published: June 7, 2018, 1:00 p.m.