From a tiny town located on a rock in the middle of the Labrador Sea to a city on the world’s largest island in the Indian Ocean comes ‘Come from Away’, a toe-tappingly sweet story behind an unforgettable tragedy.
‘Come from Away’, a Tony Award-winning Canadian musical about 9/11, opened at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre this month, and it’s only there for a short time so, add it to your must-watch list NOW.
‘Err, sorry. Did you say a Canadian play about a series of attacks on US soil?’ It’s the same question that had me scratching through the skin on my scalp until the cast walked on stage and delivered a true story on how Canadians did what Canadians do best, host with relentless hospitality.
Through infectious folk music and beautifully scripted dialogue, choreography and direction, ‘Come from Away’ tells the 9/11 story that understandably faded behind the devastating events in NYC – the fate of all those planes and passengers approaching the US when George W. Bush and the Federal Aviation Administration called for an immediate closure of US airspace.
‘Didn’t they all just turn around and fly back to their point of origin?’ Actually, as I discovered during an enchanting 100-minute sitting, they were redirected to Gander, a tiny Canadian town which thanks to its history as a transatlantic refuelling stop had enough space to handle 38 planes, including a couple of A380s, at once.
‘Come from Away’ shows the lengths to which the local Gander people went to house, feed, entertain and shower some 6,000 unscheduled visitors, many of whom weren’t informed of the attacks or their diverted location until 24 hours after touching down.
It delves into the fear created by a single moment in time and the eventuating racism. It touches on the days after the tragedy and how the world attempted to return to some sort of normalcy but was too far changed.
But mostly, the musical 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.
‘Come from Away’ will make you laugh, cry, Google Gander and fill you with a heartwarming desire to smile at a stranger (until you step out into that icy Melbourne winter and realise you can’t actually move your lips).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OpWepYAFB8
If that’s not enough to convince to book a weekend escape to Victoria’s capital, ‘Come from Away’ was only one of six Canadian shows to make it onto Broadway AND Justin Trudeau took Ivanka Trump to see it.
If it’s good enough for Justin…
Tickets and accommodation packages are available for purchase through Viva Holidays. Click here for more information, click here to learn more on Gander’s role during the events after 9/11, or click here to check out the musical’s website.
