RINOcracy.com does not generally do theater reviews, but I wanted to make an exception to recommend a remarkable musical that I saw last weekend in Los Angeles. The show, Come From Away, is based on true stories of the 7,000 passengers on the 38 airplanes ordered to make emergency landings in Newfoundland in the hours after the 9/11 attacks. It tells of the overwhelmingly kind and generous receptions the passengers and crews received from the residents of the small town of Gander and surrounding communities. (“Come from away” is a Newfoundland expression referring to new arrivals on the island.) The production offers an extraordinary combination of elements that are moving, sobering, uplifting—and hilarious, all with terrific music.
Come From Away opened on Broadway in March 2017, receiving critical acclaim and winning numerous awards, and it is approaching its second anniversary of playing to packed houses. At the same time, it is in the early stage of a national tour, and it recently came to the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles. Of the original production, Ben Brantley, wrote in the New York Times, “Try, if you must, to resist the gale of good will that blows out of ‘Come From Away,’ the big bearhug of a musical that opened on Sunday night at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater. But even the most stalwart cynics may have trouble staying dry-eyed during this portrait of heroic hospitality under extraordinary pressure.” Joe Dziemianowicz of the New York Daily News called the show “big-hearted and crowd-pleasing” and “a singing reminder that when things are at their worst, people can be at their best.” Joe Westerfield of Newsweek wrote that “‘Come From Away’ accomplishes what all the best musicals do: It takes you to a place where you didn’t know you wanted to go, and makes you not want to leave.” I found those reviews to be very well deserved.
From Los Angeles, the production is headed to San Francisco and then to 22 more cities in the United States and Canada. If you don’t have a chance to see the show in New York (or Dublin, London or Melbourne), I would urge you to check the tour schedule on the show’s website to see if it is coming to a city near you and, if so, make plans to see it. (The website also has clips from the production and much more information.)
Seeing Come From Away at the Ahmanson was an event organized by the Cornell Alumni Club of Los Angeles and the Club also arranged for the creative genius behind the production, Michael Rubinoff, to give a talk describing the development of the show over several years beginning at Sheridan College in Ontario. Rubinoff is a Toronto lawyer, theater producer, and Associate Dean of Visual and Performing Arts at Sheridan. He conceived the idea for the show, recruited the writers and shepherded the show through various productions in Canada and the United States before it finally arrived on Broadway. Readers who are interested in the story of how a musical can make its way from a student workshop production at a Canadian college to become a Broadway smash will enjoy an interview with Rubinoff here (beginning at 13:30).
We are living through difficult and stressful times in which even those who are not directly affected by the government shutdown can sense the pain of those who are and can share their dismay at the stubborn ineptitude of our leaders. At such times, hopeful and inspiring messages are needed more than ever but may not be easy to come by. Come From Away will help fill that gap.
Thanks so much for your piece on the musical “Come from Away.” What a great idea its lawyer-creator, Michael Rubinoff, had in making such a play and, as you say, it couldn’t have come at a better time. Barbara and I look forward to seeing it iat the Saenger Theater in New Orleans in May.
Tragedies do sometimes bring out the best in people and that was emphatically true of 9/11, upon which the play is based. I was unaware that our friends in Newfoundland graciously hosted fleeing Americans — a very noble deed. But I do remember how that horrific tragedy profoundly united our country and how proud I was to be an American.
My family and I had a similar experience when Hurricane Katrina struck. Exiled from our home in New Orleans for months, we were afraid. Mercifully, the American people opened their hearts to us — the waitress in Huntsville, Alabama who would not let me pay our lunch; the husband and wife who invited me to speak to their church congregation and come to their home for dinner; the Red Cross volunteers who gave us each twelve, twenty-dollar bills; the young woman who invited me to her family picnic in the park near our hotel.
Exiles in our own country, we felt lost and rootless. Where did we live? What city? Did we still have our house or was it under water? But then the band in the park lead us in singing our national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner. A wave of relief and contentment swept over me: I realized our home was the USA and that, come what may, our government and fellow Americans would help us to recover. My heart swelled with pride to be a citizen of this great and bountiful country. (Cornell University, by the way, suspended payment of our son’s tuition, and took in over 100 college students from the New Orleans area, tuition-free.)
I believe to the depths of my being that we are among the best of nations and that the vast majority of our countrymen are goood and kind. That we have far more in common than we sometimes realize.
There is a splendid article in today’s Sunday New York Times, “Brexit and the Shutdown: Populism Gives Rise to Twin Impasses.” A story of how our two vulnerable democracies (the UK and the USA) are threatened by polarization between the haves and have-nots, betwen those who feel the urge to solve problems by walling off their country and those who recognize that globalization is a good thing and that it’s here to stay, so let’s make the best of it.
We must once again come together as one people, recognize that our rendevous with destiny can be hugely successful if we all pull togther. We can end the scourge of income inequality and ee musst accept our civic duties in every sphere of our lives.
I believe we will succeed. The words from Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address say it best:
“We are not enemies, but friends. Though passion may have stirred [,] it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory … will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched as surely they will be, the better angels of our nature.”
We wait in eager antiipation to see Come From Away.
Best regards.
Hi Doug,
I seem to recall that you were delayed returning from UK at the time of 9/1l and wondered if you were among those who received the warm hospitality extended by the people of Newfoundland. I’ve read many stories about this event and I find it quite moving as well as thrilling.. I’d love to see this show and thanks for mentioning the tour. I see it will be in Hartford in the Spring.
Best regards,
Nancy Schoerke
We were stranded at the Heathrow Hilton and fled to the Cotswolds. Warmly received there, but not as dramatic as Newfoundland.
I think this is based on the book The Day the World Came to Town. I read it ages ago, before this production was in the mix. Hope it comes to Raleigh and I have a chance to see it. The book warms the heart and reminds us of the many intersections between Canada and America that exist. It’s a great reminder to me of how important relationship is and how America is currently squandering it.
We saw it lsst year in NYC. By coincidence, we rean into Sandy Treadwell and his son as we left the theater. I loved Brantley’s discription of a, “…big, bearhug of a show.” It certainly was.
We saw it the Tuesday before Thanksgiving in NYC. I had wanted to see it for a long time. I LOVED it! So glad you got to see it. The people I know who work in the sky – pilots and flight attendants – are SO moved by it!
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