COME FROM AWAY

If you “come from away” (the native Newfoundlander’s expression for those folks who visit but don’t live on “The Rock”) the locals might share with you a meal of fresh hunted turr (in season right now) or you might end up down at the local pub to get yourself “Screeched in” after you kiss the cod. All to the good sounding Celtic leaning folk music that you might hear in any kitchen ceilidh party on a Saturday night.

But on the night of September 11, 2001, all was not well on The Rock and throughout North America as airports shut down and all air traffic was grounded in the wake of the terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon. This included 38 civilian and 4 military international flights that were diverted to the small town of Gander, Newfoundland. Why Gander? Because at one time you couldn’t get where you needed to go in Europe or vice versa without stopping there to refuel, it being one of the largest airports in North America. This hasn’t been the case for some time now, but as Gander’s Mayor, Claude Elliot, observed on 9/11, “Damn good thing we didn’t tear the place down.”

Now at first glance, you might think it would be a bit of a stretch to take this scenario, which involved a deluge of 6,000 hungry, frightened passengers (some stranded on their planes for over 20 hours after landing) that swelled a town whose population numbered only about 11,000, into a heartwarming musical. Well, I’m here to tell you that you would be wrong about that. Come From Away is the kind of good, compassionate story telling that we need in times like these when good news is hard to come by.

Irene Sankoff and David Hein are a Canadian writing team, married to each other in life and to the theatre by profession. Their first go at musical theatre was a quirky, semi-biographical piece called My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding that was a hit at the Toronto Fringe Festival and went on to be picked up for a successful commercial run by Mirvish Productions and then on to successful runs in New York and across the U.S. with Sankoff and Hein performing in most productions.

The backstory of Come From Away is interesting in that it was conceived by Michael Rubinoff, associate dean of visual and performing arts at Sheridan College in Mississiauga, Ontario. The playwrights got some grant money to travel to Gander and do research on the project by gathering up stories much in the “verbatim theatre” style of docu-dramas so much in vogue these days. Their own composing vocabulary is more on the folksy side of the musical staff, so the Celtic folk phrasing, fiddle playing and clog dancing blended quite nicely with the rhythmic story telling that really sounded more like a sung through musical then it did a book show.

After completing workshopping at Sheridan and then additional workshopping at Goodspeed Musical Festival of New Artists, they were unable to find any local producers in Canada willing to mount the show so they began to pitch the project in the U.S. where it was picked up by the La Jolla Playhouse in California and the Seattle Repertory Theatre. There they enjoyed sold out runs and went on to play the Ford Theatre in Wash. D.C. With that track record behind them, Come From Away received its Canadian premiere in November in Toronto where it was immediately embraced by local audiences who sold out the limited run at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. It plays there until January 9th before moving on to its Broadway preview at the Gerald Schoenfeld beginning on February 8th and officially opening on March 23rd.

This is a close knit, 16 member ensemble cast (see names above) that moves swiftly and seamlessly from airline passengers in one scene to local Gander residents in the next and it seems unfair to single out leading roles and singular stand out performances although there certainly are some. But better you the audience should choose your own favorites from this heartfelt and soulful production. Also worthy of note is the eight member band led by Ian Eisendrath (keyboard/accordion) and supported by Ben Power (flute/pipes/whistles), Caitlin Warbelow (fiddle), Alec Berlin and Nate Lueck (guitar/mandolin/bouzouki), Carl Carter (bass), Romano Di Nillo (bodhran/percussion) and Larry Lelli (drums/percussion). They even get their own well deserved curtain call.

Come From Away is a bit of a love letter for our American cousins to the south or, better still, a get-well card as in, “just a short note to let you know we’re thinkin’ about ya, eh?” If you happen to be in New York City and have an opportunity to see this show during its run at the Gerald Schoenfeld, don’t miss your chance. As those cold winter gusts sweep through the wind tunnels of Manhattan, drop in for a bit of warming spiritual uplift from the northern most tip of the continent.

A little touch of Canada in the night.