Fabulous ensemble: the company of Come From Away.
For a feel-good night out, it will be hard to go past Come From Away, 80 minutes of spectacular musical theatre that distils a number of heart-warming true stories that evolved in the aftermath of a horrific event. It’s not 9/11 The Musical, but a celebration of humanity and friendship in the wake of that terrorist attack.
Come From Away starts as it means to go on, with a rousing number called Welcome to the Rock performed by the entire cast (and a seven-piece band). The ‘rock’ is the island of Newfoundland, famous since 2001 for receiving more than 6,500 passengers and airline crew forced to land at Gander airport when US airspace was shut down in September 2001.
Before this deluge, we meet Gander’s mayor, a local schoolteacher, the rookie journalist and other locals at the coffee shop, the town hub. (We also learn, by listening, that the Newfoundland accent is an intriguing mix of Scottish, Irish, Welsh, American and French Canadian accents.) Soon afterwards the ‘plane people’ arrive but can’t leave the airport. How does a local community of some 9000 people rise to challenge of feeding, accommodating and befriending thousands of frightened and bewildered passengers from all parts of the world, who are yet to learn what has just happened in the US? Cue song two, 38 Planes, and song three, Blankets and Bedding.
It all sounds awfully schmalzy, but it’s not. The kindness and compassion of strangers is what underpins Come From Away, and most of us can empathise with that, especially as we enter year two of our global pandemic.
There are challenges of course, for the plane people and their hosts. Egyptian Ali, a top chef, is initially suspect because of his skin colour and his religion; gay couple Kevin and Kevin expect to be shunned; there’s the African couple afraid to leave the plane because they think the Sally Army uniforms belong to some kind of special police force. There’s Hannah, who’s worried sick because her son is a New York firefighter.
Then there’s the woman who wants to save all the animals, held in the cargo holds of the grounded planes. And the shy English bloke who falls for woman from Texas. All this and more from a cast of 12 who all play multiple roles. I lost track of how many.
Needless to say, the cast all work incredibly hard. A change of shirt, a hat here and a cardigan there – and suddenly Kevin is Ali, Beverley is Annette, Doug is Nick and so on. The staging and choreography (credit to Kelly Devine) make the transitions appear seamless. Come From Away is a true ensemble piece and it’s almost wrong to single out any one performance.
However, the scene featuring a group of stranded cardiologists wearing pink rubber gloves preparatory to some volunteer toilet-cleaning is hard to forget and, in a completely different vein, so too is Zoe Gertz in the role of Beverley Bass, pioneering pilot and the first female captain of a commercial plane at American Airlines. Gertz’s rendition of Me and the Sky is stunning.
The stage set (designed by Beowulf Boritt) is simple but remarkably effective. Chairs in the café become rows of airline seating, for example, and Howell Binkley’s lighting design helps transform a claustrophic plane cabin to emergency community accommodation to lonely vigil by a telephone.
The book, music and lyrics are courtesy of husband and wife duo David Hein and Irene Sankoff, who travelled to Newfoundland to interview thousands of locals for their stories. This production is directed by Christopher Ashley, with music supervision by Ian Eisendrath and sound design by Gareth Owen. The entire team of cast and creatives deserves a credit, but that’s a book in itself. For more, see www.comefromaway.com.au. But see the show, too!
Prices: from $85
Booking until 29 August.
