Come From Away

"Come From Away" is a feel good story about what simple people can do when called upon to do big things. There is no better place to see a show like this than The Morristown Performing Arts Center. Comfortable as well as elegant, The Performing Arts Center has been putting on great travel theater as well as concerts for years!

With simple staging by Beowulf Boritt, "Come From Away" is able to just give the audience what is on stage and nothing more. The story is so good (book, music and lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein) that a simple staging brings forth the story and the actors to the front and center.

This remarkable true story about everyday people with a population of seven thousand, doubled in size when planes were forced to land in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada after September 11, 2001. It is here that this small town for five days did there best to feed, cloth and shelter people from all over the world who were forced to land in this remote place of no importance in the world.

In the first two songs: "Welcome to the Rock" and "38 Planes", it gives the audience the basis for the plot. The rock in question is the remote place in Canada and the 38 planes is just how many landed that day. As when I saw this Tony Award Winning Best Musical, I never understood why Howell Binkley gave the opening number yellow and orange lights during the opening song. I looked like, and reminded me of an Island musical rather than a northern town in Canada. Binkley hit this color combination several more times during the show and it didn't sit well to the eye. When he used blues, purples and reds, the lighting worked better.

Under Christopher Ashley's direction, "Come From Away" is one of the better musicals that has ever graced Broadway or anywhere else. It is a simple show, but a fun and educational one. All of the towns people pitch in to make their stay as comfortable as possible. The townspeople put a bus strike on hold to help the people who have now occupied their towns. Even though the show is light hearted and funny at times, the crux of the show is serious.

All the songs resonate throughout the hour-thirty minutes. Some songs really hit home; songs like: "Welcome to the Rock"; "38 Planes"; "I Am Here"; "Prayer"; "Me and The Sky"; "Stop the World"; and "Something's Missing". It is these songs that bring the reality to the show. In between jokes and the look at common folks, it is these songs that round out the seriousness of the terror attacks on both New York City and Washington DC on that awful day.

As the days go bye tensions mount, people fall in love; people fall out of love, but mostly, people from far and away want to survive and get back too their lives again. The people on the 38 planes don't know how to react to the new world that they now face. The Muslims on the island are now looked at differently, no one knows if they are terrorists or not. People are eager to get home and be with their families.

The acting in this show is superb. Many of the actors play different roles during the performance. Notable standouts are: John Anker Bow, Andrew Hendrick, Kristen Litzenberg, Kathleen Cameron, Erich Schroeder and Andre Williams.

As no good deed goes unpunished, when the public found out what these great people of Gander did for the world, donations came pouring into this town. "Come From Away" is an amazing story about amazing people in difficult times. Whether on Broadway or The Morristown Performing Arts Center, this musical is first rate all around.

Tony Award, New York City, Come From Away.