Come From Away at DPAC Tells the True Story of the Stranding of 7000 Airline Passengers in Gander, Newfoundland, After 9/11

This article was published in the Triangle Review on 19 January 2023.

I was a little wary about seeing the Durham Performing Arts Center's presentation of Come from Away, playing through Sunday, Jan. 22nd, as part of WRAL Greatest Hits of Broadway at DPAC. This 2013 Sheridan College Canadian Music Theatre Project, 2017 Broadway, and 2019 West End musical, written by Irene Sankoff and David Hein, is based on the emergency landing of 38 airplanes (with 7,000 total passengers) in the Newfoundland town of Gander (population: 11,880) after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Some things just shouldn't be relayed in festive song-and-dance; and the events of September 11, 2001, were about as close to any that I could imagine in that category. But I was hopeful that I would take away more positive than negative from the production.

The set, designed by Beowulf Boritt, was beautiful despite its simplicity: a few wooden tables and chairs on the left side of the stage, lifelike tree trunks -- each a work of art -- reaching from the floor to the rafters. Multifaceted stage lighting, designed by Howell Binkley, transformed the space into a town hall, a school, a plane, a pub, and more during the course of the evening, spotlighting characters in a most effective way.

All this was accompanied by the lively and percussive celtic music of an eight-piece band hidden behind the trees (conducted by Cameron Moncur, who also plays keyboard, accordion, and harmonium). We could not only hear their music; if we looked closely enough, we could actually see their expert and comfortable synergy in action.

The musical's characters are Gander residents and some of the 7,000 passengers that they housed and fed during the five days that planes were stranded in Newfoundland due to the air-travel ban following the September 11th bombings. The actors each played Newfoundlanders as well as people from the United States and other countries; and their ability to switch from one accent to another was impressively convincing.

As Mayor Claude Elliott (and others), Kevin Carolan stood out with his made-for-radio voice and his impeccable use of it in his characters' varying accents. Likewise, Jordan Barbour's Oz (and others), James Earl Jones II's Bob (and others), and Marika Aubrey's Beverley (and others) flippage from Newfoundland English to New York, Texan, and other American accents surely pleased dialect coach Joel Goldes as well as the DPAC audience.

Marika Aubrey's singing voice is equally welcome, combining pop country twang with show-tune vocals. And Christine Toy Johnson's heartfelt portrayal of divorced, upper-middle-aged Texan Diane is apparent when she sings as well as speaks.

Though I am easily annoyed with unnecessarily song-heavy musicals, in only one of the 15 songs in this 145-minute production did I feel anything like annoyance. From small-world Gander, where you can apparently take things from people's yards without asking, to the inside of a grounded plane 24-hours full of tired and frightened foreign passengers, the rest of the songs were surprising in their applicability to what was transpiring on stage. The upbeat nature of most of the play was surprising as well; but it, too, seemed appropriate to the characters and plot unfolding.

The audience were on their feet before the first bow after the show and remained there as the band replaced the bowing actors and performed an all-out jam as if treating us to an after-show concert. The audience clapped along, swaying in rhythm, creating a feedback loop that made the music even better. This musical finale's reinforcement of the play's positivity was my favorite part of the night.

There are some irritating moments between Ganderites and airline passengers, and the play lightly touches on the security profiling of a Muslim male passenger; but, for the most part, this is a story of human love and hospitality that is so sincere it makes you want to move to Newfoundland.

By play's end, I found myself wondering whether this "remarkable true story" was too good to be true. Searching the Internet on my phone while wading through the people leaving the venue, I discovered that not only are the feel-good facts portrayed in Come from Away accurate, things have only gotten more positive as the real people involved have connected with the actors portraying them and the worldwide audience that they serve.

I can see why Come from Away was nominated for seven 2017 Tony Awards®, winning the Tony for Best Direction of a Musical (Christopher Ashley). Not only is it well-directed, the current U.S. tour of Come from Away provides a gentle and positive avenue to discuss the tragic events of September 11th, particularly with teens, tweens, and even younger kids. The New York Times, the BBC, TheatreGold, and others refer to the musical as "a cathartic reminder of the capacity for human kindness in even the darkest of times and the triumph of humanity over hate." I encourage you to be reminded this week by attending one of the remaining performances.