From a small town located on a rock in Newfoundland, Canada, comes ‘Come from Away’, a toe-tappingly powerful story behind one of the darkest days for humanity. Karryon had the privilege of seeing the spellbinding hit musical in Sydney, thanks to Air Canada, the show’s main sponsor.
In case you’ve been literally hiding under a rock for the last two decades, the Tony and Olivier Award-winning musical tells the remarkable true story of thousands of stranded passengers and the small community in Newfoundland, Canada, that welcomed them all.
‘Come from Away’ is the human tale of what Canadians do best, host with relentless hospitality.
Gander is a small and remote Canadian town that, thanks to its illustrious aviation history as a transatlantic refuelling stop, had enough space to handle multiple planes at once.
As the horrific events of 9/11 unfolded, then President George W. Bush and the Federal Aviation Administration called for immediate closure of US airspace, leading to 38 planes carrying 6,579 passengers and crew being redirected to land in Gander within a few hours that same day.
What started out as just another typical Tuesday in Gander rapidly turned into five non-stop days of chaos as the town’s population grew from 10,000 to 16,579 people until September 16, when the last plane finally departed.
The musical shows the extraordinary lengths to which the local Gander people went over that five-day period to house, feed, entertain and shower some 6,579 unscheduled visitors (including the stranded animals onboard the planes), many of whom weren’t informed of the attacks or their diverted location until 24 hours after touching down.
Through infectious Gaelic-inspired folk music and beautifully scripted dialogue, choreography and sharp direction, ‘Come from Away’ tells the 9/11 story that understandably faded behind the devastating events in NYC – the fate of all those other planes and passengers approaching the US.
Sponsored by Air Canada, the musical delves into the fear created by a single moment in time and the anti-muslim sentiment that followed. It touches on the days after the tragedy and the people who found themselves together in Gander, already changed, attempting to return to normalcy.
But mostly, the story brings light to an incredibly dark period in western history while ensuring that the severity of the situation maintains a strong presence as though it were an invisible lead character.
Together with a lucky group of invited trade guests, we got to enjoy pre-show VIP drinks and nibbles at the Theatre Royal Sydney before settling in to watch ‘Come from Away’ (with gelato and wine!), thanks to the lovely team at Air Canada in Australia. Best of all, after the show, we got to meet some of the actors and hear first-hand how passionate they are about telling the story.
‘Come from Away’ will make you laugh, cry, Google Gander and perhaps fill you with a heartwarming desire to smile at strangers on your travels, not to mention evoke a sense of hope that humanity (and Canadians especially) can be extraordinary.
As the show headlines say so perfectly, “on 9/11, the world stopped. On 9/12, their stories moved us all.”
Tickets are available at www.comefromaway.com.au with the show about to move on from Sydney on January 29, 2022, to Newcastle in February, then Adelaide and finally Perth.
What does ‘Come from Away’ mean? Native Newfoundlanders refer to those not born on the island as “Come From Aways”. The travellers who landed in Newfoundland on diverted planes on September 11, 2001, were said to have “Come From Away”.
