Not an eye was dry and no patron was left seated as the touring cast of “Come From Away” took their bows at the Ford Center on Tuesday, March 5. The Tony Award-winning musical captivated spectators from the moment the opening number “Welcome To The Rock” began with the sound of tapping feet.
“Come From Away” tells the true story of 6,700 airplane passengers who were grounded in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada, on Sept. 11, 2001, and underscores the generosity that the people of Gander were able to share with their unexpected guests in the wake of tragedy.
“This was my fourth time seeing ‘Come From Away,’ and this was my fourth time crying my eyes out,” Libby Lang, a sophomore acting major at the University of Mississippi, said. “It’s such a beautiful show, and it brings light to a dark time in U.S. history.”
When 38 planes were grounded at the Gander airport, the town population grew by more than 50%. Citizens converted their schools, churches and homes into dormitories for airline passengers from all around the world. For five days, each passenger and crew member was fed and sheltered.
“In the face of a terrible, tragic time, the people of Gander chose kindness and generosity,” Andrew Hendrick, who portrays the mayor of Gander, Claude Elliott, in the show, said. “It’d be easy to understand if someone closed their door and said, ‘I gotta protect my family and not get involved,’ but the people there chose the exact opposite.”
Some guests were even made into honorary citizens, represented by the comedic number “Screech In.” The number is one of many amusing moments in the show, including purposefully bad jokes and a chimpanzee subplot that caused both characters and audience members to smile through their tears.
The show’s 100 characters, each based on a real person, are portrayed by 12 actors, including Hendrick among other musical theater talents. The actors take on new personas with hats and jackets, changing their mannerisms and accents to show that they are no longer the person they portrayed two lines before.
The “Come From Away” set consists of two tables and chairs that, with the help of skillful miming by the actors and minimal decorations, are transformed from a Tim Hortons to an air traffic control office, plane cabins and more.
While the show maintains elements of farce, songs “Me and the Sky” and “Somewhere In The Middle Of Nowhere,” among others, provide a look into the thoughts and feelings in Gander as the world came to a pause.
“I really relate to ‘Me And The Sky,’” Addison Garner, who portrays pilot Beverly Bass in the show, said. “I always dreamed of being on stage, and Beverly dreamed of being a pilot. There’s a line in the song that I (as Beverly) say, ‘My dad said ‘just see what happens,’ and that’s something that my own dad has told me time and time again as I would go to auditions.”
“Me And The Sky” explores the grief and anxiety experienced by Bass and other pilots following 9/11.
“Come From Away” does not shy away from the racism and Islamophobia experienced by Muslim and Middle Eastern guests as they were watched by community members. The show follows an Egyptian restaurateur who is originally denied to help in a volunteer kitchen and met with suspicion by airport security as he is forced into a precautionary strip search that violates his religious beliefs.
The musical runs for 90 minutes without an intermission to mimic the non-stop attitude in Gander during the five-day event.
“It’s a beautiful show of community, friendship and hardship,” Jacob Matthews, a sophomore acting major at the University of Mississippi, said.
“Come From Away” was the third of four national musical theater tours scheduled to stop at the Ford Center this semester.
