Karen Zacarias has penned the book for the work exploring the true story of Paraguay’s Recycled Orchestra.
Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre has revealed its upcoming 2025-2026 season, which will include the world premiere of Basura, a new musical with songs by Gloria Estefan and Emily Estefan. Michael Greif will direct the new work, with performances running May 30-July 12, 2026, on the company’s Coca-Cola Stage.
The work is inspired by the true story of Paraguay’s Recycled Orchestra, an ensemble comprising young musicians playing instruments made of scrap material. The plot follows a music teacher who empowers their students to make music even when they have nothing. Karen Zacarias (Native Gardens, Destiny of Desire) has penned the book, and Patricia Delgado will choreograph. Music supervision, orchestrations, and arrangements will be by Alex Lacamoire with Ken Cerniglia serving as dramaturg.
Though Estefan is no stranger to musical theatre, Basura, co-written with her daughter, will be her first original stage score. A jukebox biomusical telling her life story to a soundtrack of her greatest hits, titled On Your Feet!, played a Broadway run in 2015.
„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,“ says Gloria Estefan in a statement. „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 theatre as consequential as the Alliance.“
The company’s Coca-Cola Stage season will open with a new staging of Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, and Joseph Stein‚s Fiddler on the Roof, directed by Tomer Zvulun and performing September 4-October 5. Next up will be a Romeo and Juliet–inspired circus show from The 7 Fingers (Water for Elephants), titled Duel Reality. Directed by Shana Carroll, that work will kick off 2026 for the company, performing February 5-March 1, 2026.
On the Hertz Stage, the season will open with York Walker’s Covenant, directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden and running this fall, October 8-November 9. In 2026, the venue will host the world premiere of the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition-winning Fires, Ohio, written by Beth Hyland and performing February 25-March 22, 2026.
The company’s family season will include Milo Imagines the World, running this summer June 25-July 27 on the Hertz Stage; and the annual holiday production of Charles Dickens‚ A Christmas Carol, taking the Coca-Cola Stage November 7-December 24. An additional family musical, to perform in January 2026, is to be announced.
Alliance is currently readying to give a world premiere to Adam Guettel (Floyd Collins, The Light in the Piazza) and Bob Martin (Smash, BOOP!)’s new musical Millions, set to begin on the Coca-Cola Stage May 9, with Tony winners Ruthie Ann Miles and Shuler Hensley, Steven Pasquale, and more in the cast
For full details, including the company’s Bernhardt Theatre for the Very Young and In-School Touring Production series, visit AllianceTheatre.org.
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