The North American Tour of Come From Away Photo Credit Matthew Murphy
By Harrison Lorenzen
As writer Elie Wiesel once said, “Even in darkness it is possible to create light.” There is no better story to prove this than what occurred in Gander, Newfoundland, in the week following September 11th, 2001. Opening Tuesday at the Hobby Center, Come From Away presents how the townspeople of Gander came together when 7,000 travelers were stranded by the closure of the American airspace. While addressing such subject matter can be depressing, Come From Away focuses on the relationships formed and the countless selfless acts performed throughout the week.
While subject matter surrounding September 11th tends to be incredibly sorrowful, Come From Away gracefully infuses moments of comedy throughout in order to keep the play lighthearted. The show highlights the humanity and selflessness shown by the townsfolk of Gander, along with all the new friendships and relationships formed in a time of such great terror. In addition to showing the positive aspects of the passengers’ time spent in Gander, the playwrights chose to only reference the terrorist act in New York in brief remarks, alluding to what had happened, but keeping the emphasis on Gander. However, as lighthearted as the show is throughout, there are deeply heartfelt, moving moments, such as when Hannah learns that her firefighter son has passed away helping in the aftermath of the Twin Towers.
The cast of Come From Away, although small at just 12 actors, are quite skilled in each representing an assortment of characters throughout. Each actor tends to represent at least a specific citizen of Gander and a stranded passenger, but also countless other parts to represent the scale of the population in Gander that week. They each seamlessly flowed between characters with only slight costume piece adjustments and vocal inflections, while still making it clear who they were playing. In a similar way, the simple open staging allowed the space to be changed to anything it needs to be.
Resembling a forest clearing, the stage allows the actors to create any setting they need to, just by rearranging a few chairs and tables. They would form the airplane by simply lining up rows of seats and focusing the lighting into a box around the actors. They would transition into a school or a bar by spreading out the seats. The backdrop would transition from a rough mountainside look to a wood-slat deck look, just with the use of lighting. The designers utilized their space incredibly well, never leaving the audience confused to where they were, but enabling them to use their imaginations to fill in the details of the space.
Able to take the crowd from hysterical laughter to tears back-to-back, Come From Away is an incredibly moving musical with amazing talent. In Houston through Sunday, March 8th, everyone should make time to see this beautiful show. For more information please visit houston.broadway.com. For more Broadway show updates, tune into my KTRU specialty show “Showstoppers” weekly on Mondays from 11 a.m. to noon on air and online at ktru.org.