Come From Away
By David Van Cleve
Last fall, we had some friends from the “theater world,” Scott and Deb, visit our home. When they found out Mary and I were planning a trip to Broadway to see some high school friends and catch some shows, Scott asked, “Have you heard of ‘Come From Away?’” I said no and asked what it was. He responded that it was a musical about 9/11 – Yes, THAT 9/11! The terrorist attack on our country. Wait, What? I was startled. Who would make a musical about that horrible day, and further, who would go see it?
It turns out that Scott had worked on the production of this show at the La Jolla Playhouse. Apparently, a lot of shows that are thinking of going to Broadway open somewhere else to get the kinks out and gauge audience reaction, and Scott said we HAD to go see it in New York City.
OK, I said, not all musicals are happy stories of guys dancing in the rain or a young nun helping out an Austrian family. Actually, many are pretty dark. Think of Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, even Oklahoma. Scott said no, this one is actually very uplifting and inspirational.
“Scott,” I said, “Tell me more.” So the story does not take place in New York; it is set in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada. Gander is a small town, but, importantly, it has a huge runway at the airport due to its past history as a Canadian Air Force base.
One of the first things the United States did, once it realized that an organized attack was taking place via the use of commercial aircraft, was to close down all American airspace. No planes could fly into the U.S. When this order went into effect, there were thousands of people literally up in the air – on commercial flights headed for American cities. They had to divert and land somewhere else, and many were directed to land at Gander. Come From Away is about the people of Gander, and the people on the airplanes, and how they reacted to this tragic event, and how they set an example of how to reach out to strangers.
All of a sudden there were 7,000 people landing in Gander. At the beginning, it was chaos. The Canadian officials did not even know if they should let passengers off the planes. What if there were terrorists on board? Finally, passengers disembarked, but they had no food, no place to sleep, no baggage (bags that had prescription meds, diapers, etc.), and there were pets still on the planes. Then the people of Gander started getting organized. Homes and auditoriums were made available, visitors were given rides and meals, lasting friendships were made. One family had a son who was a New York City firefighter, and everyone rallied around them as they tried to figure out what was going on in that city and the whole country.
Although most visitors were in Gander only a few days before they were allowed to go home, many recall the amazing spirit and actions of the Canadian people.
Jim DeFede wrote a beautiful book of this miracle in Gander – The Day the World Came to Town. And now there is a musical – Come From Away, which is how the Canadians referred to their visitors. I read the book, but we canceled our trip to New York in January due to a surge in Covid. Ironic, right? Another crisis, but with a different outcome. The people of Gander taught us how we can come together to help others in need. What are we missing? Why are we more divided than united?
The musical is coming to the Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts in Costa Mesa this June. I have our tickets.
