Archbishop Stepinac High School welcomed hundreds of spectators “to the rock” on April 25 for the opening night of “Come From Away,” a touching musical about the passengers of planes diverted in the hours after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. The performance was stunning, and one could imagine they were in a professional theater rather than a high school.
“Come From Away” tells the true story of 38 planes that are diverted to Gander, a tiny Canadian town on the island of Newfoundland, after U.S. airspace closes following 9/11. The 7,000 passengers, or “come from aways,” remain on their planes for hours, clueless as to what has happened, while the town of roughly 7,000 inhabitants scrambles to find space to accommodate double its population. When the plane people finally get bused to makeshift shelters and see the news, they stand frozen to the spot, terrified.
Throughout the five days that they remain stranded in Gander, audience members see how fear and uncertainty fades into comfort as residents work tirelessly to prepare food and activities. By the time the planes are cleared to take off, many passengers express their disappointment that they must leave this safe haven and reenter the horrifying reality of what has happened.
An interesting aspect of the show is that there is not one defined main character; instead, we see snippets of the lives of a variety of people, both passengers and locals, which helps spectators — especially younger ones who were not alive to witness the attacks — understand the various ways in which this tragedy affected people’s lives. Hannah, played by Dorian Douce, is the mother of a New York City firefighter who stays glued to the phone praying for news of her son’s safety. Diane, played by Tessa Marsico, and Nick, played by Julian Cavallinio, are two travelers who meet each other in Gander and fall in love. Beulah is a local teacher who is instrumental in setting up shelters and preparing food for the come from aways.
The musical also dabbles in the xenophobia that arose after the attacks. Ali, a Muslim passenger played by Jaleel Disla, is pulled out of line and thoroughly searched multiple times, including once in the presence of a woman, which violates his religion. While he is on the phone, other passengers accuse him of “telling his Muslim friends what to bomb next,” and during the powerful musical number “Something’s Missing,” he tells the audience that his daughter is too scared to go to school when he finally gets back home.
The show was beautifully performed, with perfectly synchronized dances and rapid set changes, especially when the chairs were rearranged from being clustered around tables to lined up as airplane seats. The singing was extremely impressive, and a few musical numbers stood out. “In the Bar/Heave Away” had difficult, impressive group dancing and fantastic singing, with everybody perfectly in time. Spectators could feel the energy of the scene from the audience, and the actors did a marvelous job portraying each character as they would have in real life.
“Me and the Sky,” sung by Winter Donnelly as Captain Beverly Bass, told the true story of one of the first female pilots, who was rerouted to Gander. Donnelly’s singing abilities blew the audience away, and her acting skills were remarkable: one minute her character was describing how empowered she felt as she overcame adversity and advanced her career, and the next she deflated as she sang quietly about how “the one thing I loved more than anything was used as the bomb.”
Stepinac’s production of “Come From Away” was a stunning portrayal of the lasting bonds forged as the world suffered through the horrific terrorist attacks. Through humor, pain and vivid storytelling, audience members went home not just with catchy tunes stuck in their heads, but also a deeper understanding of the effects, both good and bad, of one of the worst days in history.
