Come From Away – Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield

Writers: Irene Sankoff and David Hein

Director: Christopher Ashley

The musical Come From Away is based on real events in the small, remote town of Gander in Newfoundland. Directly after the 11th September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington D.C. and Shanksville, the Federal Aviation Administration closed United States airspace to all planes. Canada offered to accept inbound planes flying from Europe. Seven thousand air passengers and their crews were diverted to Gander international airport. The town extended a warm welcome to the stranded global passengers, and with warmth and generosity of spirit, the town-folk set to, offering accommodation, bedding, phone use, food and a listening ear to help and support the stranded passengers. There were language barriers and some clashes of culture but trust and long-lasting friendships were made during the five days the passengers were stranded.

In their research for the musical, the writers Irene Sankoff and David Hein visited Gander on the tenth anniversary of the attack and interviewed locals and returning passengers. The musical describes an incredible, true story, that is heart-warming. There is a strong Irish legacy in Newfoundland and this comes across in the musical.

There is a live on-stage band playing many traditional Irish instruments. It creates a wonderful atmosphere with heartbeat background music and accompaniment to over twenty songs. The company sing in harmony and moving solos, telling their stories and emotions through the lyrics.

For the first 28 hours the crew and passengers were not allowed to leave the planes and everyone was confused and in the dark about what had happened and why they were grounded. All were desperate to contact their loved ones. It was only when they were allowed to disembark to the emergency shelters and watch the news footage of the 9/11 attacks that they learnt the true horror of what had happened.

Come From Away has won four Olivier Awards including Best New Musical in London. It opened on Broadway in 2017 and ran till 2022 with a break for the covid pandemic. It premiered at The Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, in December 2018 and then transferred to the Phoenix Theatre in the West End in February 2019 until January 2023.

The director Christopher Ashely won a Tony Award for best Direction of a Musical on Broadway. The musical is fast paced. There is no interval. There are chairs on stage that are skilfully employed as passenger seats on the plane and then seats in the local bar, vantage points to look out on the beautiful scenery, to seats on the buses.

The twelve actors are on stage throughout most of the performance. Each person taking on a multitude of roles. The scenes seamlessly alternate between the town-folk and the passengers. All the different emotions are so very well depicted. There is pathos, humour, fear, energy, pride, religious worship and so much more. The musical rekindles the very powerful emotions of that time.

So many people’s experiences during those five days are touched upon in the musical and it would be unfair to focus on any one performer as they all played their parts superbly. Just two examples are the gay couple Kevin Tuerff (Mark Dugdale) and Kevin Jung (Jamal Zulfiqar) of the Tuerff environmental PR agency in Austin who are truly convincing, as is Nicholas Pound as Gander’s larger than life mayor.

The audience gave a standing ovation to this truly remarkable musical. It is not to be missed.

Runs until 20 July 2024