Gloria and Emily Estefan score ‘Basura,’ opening Saturday at Alliance Theatre

The world premiere of “Basura” opens Saturday, May 30, at the Alliance Theatre’s Coca-Cola Stage, with music and lyrics by Grammy Award winner Gloria Estefan and her daughter Emily. The new musical, based on the true story of Paraguay’s Recycled Orchestra, a children’s ensemble that builds its instruments from landfill scraps, runs through July 12.

A team built around the story

The production brings together a decorated creative team. Michael Greif, whose Broadway work includes “Rent” and “Dear Evan Hansen,” directs. Alex Lacamoire, musical supervisor, orchestrator, and arranger on “Hamilton” and “In the Heights,” shaped the Estefans’ demos and compositions into a full theatrical score. The book is by Karen Zacarías, and the choreography is by Tony Award winner Patricia Delgado.

For Emily, the caliber of her collaborators made the challenge of writing for theater for the first time feel less daunting. “Alex Lacamoire has taken what we did, our demos and our ideas, and elevated them to the next level,” she said. “He’s such a master when it comes to vocal arranging and framing a musical idea or concept in such a wonderful way.”