New musical BASURA from Gloria and Emily Estefan to receive world premiere in Atlanta
Nine-time Grammy Award® winner Gloria Estefan is teaming up with her daughter, acclaimed singer-songwriter Emily Estefan, to co-write the music and lyrics for BASURA, a powerful and bold new musical, which will receive its world premiere at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre from 30 May-12 July 2026.
Inspired by the true story of Paraguay’s Recycled Orchestra, where young artists turn scrap material into instruments and music into possibilities, this world premiere musical continues Estefan’s global legacy — proving that music can rise from anywhere and change everything.
What do you do when the world gives you nothing? You build something beautiful. In a community against all odds, an inspired music teacher starts an orchestra for the students, but they have no instruments. Empty paint cans, a fork, and a bent license plate become a violin, an oil drum transforms into a colorful cello, and the newly formed orchestra hits every note to the beat of something bigger. When the students' instruments become symbols of possibility, the sound is heard around the world.
BASURA is directed by the Broadway stage visionary Michael Greif, and written by National Latino Playwriting Award-winner Karen Zacarías. with musical supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Grammy Award® and Tony Award® winner Alex Lacamoire, choreography by Patricia Delgado, and dramaturgy by Ken Cerniglia.
Based on the award-winning documentary film Landfill Harmonic, the new musical carries the sound of Paraguay’s Recycled Orchestra farther than anyone could have ever imagined. BASURA is an unforgettable journey of rhythm, resilience, and extraordinary music — a radiant, heart-swelling reminder that even in the most unlikely places, you can build something beautiful.
Gloria Estefan said: “This is a story that has been close to my heart for several years since I first encountered the determination and ingenuity of the young people of Paraguay’s Recycled Orchestra. Emily and I are thrilled for our music to be a part of telling their story in this original musical. We could not be more excited for BASURA to begin its theatrical life in a city as influential and diverse as Atlanta with a theater as consequential as the Alliance.”