Andrea Burns, who plays Gloria Estefan’s mother in the musical “On Your Feet!,” knows who she is: a Latina fish out of water who grew up in Miami, obsessed with Broadway. Ebullient and playful, Ms. Burns, 44, brought a breath of tropical air to Feinstein’s/54 Below on Monday evening. She compared her parents’ 46-year relationship to a union between Jerry Seinfeld and Sofia Vergara. The person onstage had a little of both. “I happen to be part Jewish,” she added. “I have the guilt.”
Ms. Burns has none of the grandeur of a traditional Broadway diva. She is an all-around pop entertainer with a twinkle in her eye and a serviceable theatrical voice that travels easily from genre to genre without being especially distinctive. Having originated the role of Daniela in the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical “In the Heights,” she is comfortably at ease in the place where Broadway tradition merges with Latin American pop. Her set included a cute, slangy song by Mr. Miranda, “BTW (Write Back).”
Accompanied by a quartet, and two backup singers led by her musical director, Alex Lacamoire, Ms. Burns made more of the set’s up-tempo songs than the ballads. In the Jennifer Lopez hit “Let’s Get Loud” and a salsa number, “Sazon,” she found her groove. More introspective songs like Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes,” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Children and Art” barely registered.
In the brightest moments, the saucy comic performer stepped to the fore. “Wig in a Box,” from “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” became a comedic number about rushing to change roles from her everyday self to a stage character.
Best of all was an uproarious version of “Googie’s Medley” from the Terrence McNally play “The Ritz.” Googie Gomez, an entertainer in a gay bathhouse, originally played by Rita Moreno, is an overconfident entertainer whose excruciatingly inept medley of show tunes includes “Tomorrow,” “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “Maybe This Time” and “People” (sung as “peoples who need peoples”). Ms. Burns made the most of it.