Susan Granger’s review of “Come From Away” (Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre)
Why do you go to theater? Because it’s entertaining and fun. Because it opens your heart, teaches life-lessons and transports you to another time, another place. Because, occasionally, it conveys the essential goodness and resiliency of the human spirit at the same, shared moment in time.
That’s why I stood up and cheered when the cast of this new Canadian musical took their bows.
After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, all flights in and around U.S. airspace were diverted to the nearest airport. Once a popular refueling spot on the edge of North America, Gander, Newfoundland, suddenly became the destination for nearly 7,000 bewildered passengers from around the world.
The rousing “Welcome to the Rock” introduces the insular townspeople whose morning coffee at Tim Horton’s began like any other – before the “38 Planes” began to land, sending them scrambling for “Bedding and Blankets,” not to mention school buses, warm clothing, food and medicine, as a nervous, novice TV reporter tries to chronicle the chaos.
Its book is largely based on interviews that Canadian writers Irene Sankoff and David Hein conducted in 2011, when some of the travelers returned for a 10th anniversary ceremony – because Gander’s genial, person-to-person hospitality was beyond remarkable.
A gay couple from Los Angeles was afraid of encountering homophobia but, instead, found warm acceptance, along with a distraught mother whose son was a New York City firefighter, a Texas divorcee, her amorous British acquaintance, a wary urban Black man, a Muslim chef and a rabbi – to name a just a few.
Admittedly, many of these characters are composites, but not trailblazing American Airlines pilot Beverly Bass, played by Jenn Colella, whose rousing “Me and the Sky” is a wistful feminist anthem.
Director Christopher Ashley (from California’s La Jolla Playhouse) cleverly utilizes his talented cast of 12, having them don and doff Toni-Leslie James’s accessories, like hats and jackets, to play multiple roles. Beowulf Boritt’s versatile set accommodates these shifts, as does Howell Brinkley’s lighting. The catchy, conversational, Celtic/folk rock songs are often accompanied by Kelly Devine’s stomping choreography.
The crowd-pleasing, one-hour-45-minute performance fittingly concludes on a life-affirming note: “We honor what was lost – but we also commemorate what we found.”