Gloria and Emily Estefan are rolling into Midtown this summer with their first co-written musical, Basura, set for its world premiere on the Alliance Theatre's Coca-Cola Stage. Previews start May 30, opening night is June 12, and the run is scheduled through July 12. The nine-time Grammy winner and her daughter share an original score that turns a little-known environmental story into a full-blown theatrical event.
Dates, venue and preview events
Basura will play at the Alliance Theatre, 1280 Peachtree Street NE, with tickets and performance schedules listed on the theater's site, according to Alliance Theatre. The company is spotlighting Basura as the world premiere of a new musical and the centerpiece of its 2025–26 season.
The Alliance has also put together a slate of extras around the mainstage run, including preview events and a free "Behind the Musical" panel that will feature members of the creative team. Those add-ons are designed to give audiences a closer look at how the show came together before and during its official launch.
Estefans on the record
Gloria and Emily Estefan share music-and-lyrics credit on Basura, a first for the mother-daughter duo. Emily told FOX 5 Atlanta that "this is the first time ever that a mother and a daughter have written an original score for a Broadway show."
Gloria explained to the station that producer Michael Shulman first reached out to her in 2019, after he had secured the rights to the documentary that would eventually inspire the musical. The FOX 5 Atlanta piece draws on interviews with both Estefans along with playwright Karen Zacaredas.
What the show covers
Basura tells the story of Paraguay's Recycled Orchestra, a group of young musicians and teachers who built their instruments from discarded materials and, in the process, sparked an international movement. The musical is rooted in the documentary Landfill Harmonic and aims to carry that real-life narrative to an even wider audience.
BroadwayWorld covered the Alliance's season announcement and traced the origins of the project, highlighting how the show adapts the documentary's themes for a large-scale stage production.
Creative team and cast
Director Michael Greif, known for guiding Rent and Dear Evan Hansen, is at the helm of Basura. Karen Zacaredas is credited with the book, while Alex Lacamoire serves as music supervisor and orchestrator. Patricia Delgado is handling choreography, David Korins is on scenic design, and Dede Ayite is creating the costumes, alongside a broader team of designers and collaborators.
Casting for the world premiere includes Mandy Gonzalez, Kevin Del Aguila and Jaci Calderon, according to TheaterMania. The ensemble is being built to match the show's mix of big-scale musical storytelling and its scrappy, trash-to-instruments origin story.
Atlanta connections and ticket info
To connect the production to the city, the Alliance is organizing community programming built around the show's environmental and musical themes. That includes partnerships with local recycling initiatives and music-education groups, along with a public preview conversation that will feature members of the creative team. These events appear on the theater's calendar as lead-ins to opening night.
For tickets, show dates and a complete rundown of related events, audiences can head to the Alliance's Basura page on the theater's website.
For Atlanta theatergoers, Basura is being positioned as a major cultural happening: a world premiere from high-profile music figures at a regional theater with national reach. For Gloria Estefan, it follows earlier theatrical work and slots into a broader wave of pop and Latin music artists developing original musical theater. Coverage inside the industry has tagged the show as part of that ongoing trend, as BroadwayWorld noted.
