I’ve seen Come From Away many times, and at this point I know exactly when I’m going to laugh, when my stomach is going to tighten and when the tears are going to start. Knowing they’re coming doesn’t make them hit any less. Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s musical remains one of my all-time favorite shows, and this terrific production at Ivoryton Playhouse reminded me all over again why I love it so much.
The story takes us back to September 11, 2001, when 38 planes carrying thousands of passengers were diverted to Gander, Newfoundland after American airspace closed. What follows isn’t really a musical about the attacks themselves. It’s about what happened in this small Canadian community afterward, when people suddenly found themselves responsible for feeding, housing, transporting and comforting thousands of complete strangers. They collected blankets, emptied store shelves, opened schools and churches, offered showers in their homes and basically figured things out as they went along.
That story has always gotten to me because Come From Away manages to be deeply moving without spending the entire evening trying to make you cry. It’s incredibly funny. It’s romantic. It’s occasionally ridiculous. People drink too much, kiss a fish, steal barbecues with the owners’ permission and try to understand Newfoundland accents. Then, almost before you realize it, the show turns a corner and lands on something devastating. Twenty-five years after the events it depicts, the idea of people seeing strangers in trouble and simply asking what they need feels especially powerful.
Director and choreographer Todd L. Underwood has done some wonderful things with this production. The staging is constantly in motion, but I never felt like I was watching people move around just for the sake of keeping the stage busy. During the sequence where the townspeople begin collecting supplies, actors are carrying boxes and bags back and forth across the stage while the list of donations keeps growing. It’s such a simple choice, but you immediately feel the entire town springing into action. Underwood also makes great use of wooden crates that become seats, pet carriers, furniture and whatever else the moment requires. I’ve seen productions use everything from rolling chairs to suitcases for this show, and the crates work beautifully here.
Then there is Jessica Drayton’s projection design, which may be some of the best use of projections I’ve seen on a stage in quite a while. A massive map suddenly appears behind the actors. Air traffic information fills the wall as planes are being diverted. The background becomes Tim Hortons, Gander Academy and the roads through Newfoundland. At one point, trees seem to pass by as a bus travels through the darkness. There are even little details like birds flying or plants moving in the wind. Rather than competing with the actors, the projections give the show a remarkable sense of place without requiring elaborate scenery. Starlet Jacobs’ scenic design works beautifully with them, and placing Angie Benson and the musicians on raised platforms on either side of the stage keeps the music physically wrapped around the action.
And that band is wonderful. The Newfoundland sound is such a huge part of Come From Away, and Benson’s musicians tear into it. Em Squatrito’s fiddle playing is particularly magnificent. When we finally reach the Legion and the famous screech-in, the whole production seems to cut loose. The cast looks like they’re having an absurd amount of fun up there, and that joy is contagious.
This is also an exceptionally strong ensemble. One of the great tricks of Come From Away is watching a small group of performers become an entire town, thousands of stranded passengers, airline crews and assorted people from around the world, often switching characters with little more than a jacket, a hat or a change in posture and accent. The cast handles those transformations at an expert level. The Newfoundland accents are terrific, and I was equally impressed by how clearly the actors establish characters from completely different parts of the world without turning them into caricatures.
It’s genuinely hard to pick standouts because the ensemble works so well together, but Dee-Dee Darby-Duffin’s Hannah and Mimi Bessette’s Beulah remain two of the characters I respond to most. Their relationship gets to the heart of this musical for me. Hannah is stuck hundreds of miles away desperately trying to learn whether her firefighter son is safe, while Beulah understands there’s nothing she can do to fix that. So she stays beside her. That’s it. She tells a silly joke. She walks with her to church. She makes sure Hannah isn’t alone. Darby-Duffin and Bessette make those scenes beautifully simple, which makes them hit even harder.
Dana Costello also gets one of my favorite moments in musical theater with “Me and the Sky.” Beverley Bass’ story of falling in love with flying, fighting her way into a profession dominated by men and eventually becoming an American Airlines captain is thrilling enough on its own. Then the song arrives at September 11 and everything changes. It’s a brilliant piece of writing, and Costello takes us through every bit of it. “Me and the Sky” may be my favorite song in the show because it contains so much of what Come From Away does so well. Pride and humor can exist right beside fear and grief, and one doesn’t cancel out the other.
This was my first visit to Ivoryton Playhouse, and I’m very impressed. They’ve taken a musical I know extremely well and found their own visual language for it without messing with the things that make it special. The theater is lovely, the seats are comfortable, and the staff and volunteers couldn’t have been friendlier. Between the facility and the quality of this production, I’m already looking forward to going back.
If you’ve never been to Ivoryton Playhouse, consider this your excuse to finally make the trip.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Through September 6
Ivoryton Playhouse
103 Main Street
Ivoryton, Connecticut
For tickets and information: ivorytonplayhouse.org
CAST:
Mimi Bessette - Beulah & Others
Patrick Steven Bovo - Kevin T & Others
Dana Costello - Beverley & Others
Dee-Dee Darby-Duffin - Hannah & Others
Joseph Dellger - Claude & Others
Stacia Fernandez - Diane & Others
Miles Hanna - Bob & Others
Logan Marks - Oz & Others
Jason Ivan Rodriguez - Kevin J & Others
Autumn Eliza Sheffy - Janice & Others
Billy Clark Taylor - Nick & Others
Vicki Wepler - Bonnie & Others
John C. Baker - Swing
Samantha Rae Bass - Swing
Victoria Bundonis - Swing
Bridget Carrow - Swing
Ben Clouse - Swing
Martinez Napoleon - Swing
Elio Perez - Swing
Rebecca Tobin - Swing
CREATIVE:
Irene Sankoff and David Hein - Book, Music and Lyrics
Todd L. Underwood - Director and Choreographer
Angie Benson - Music Director
Starlet Jacobs - Scenic Design
Sean Spina - Costume Design
Jessica Drayton - Lighting and Projection Design
Rhian Franchebois - Sound Design
Kat Schorn - Props Design
Alexina Cristante - Wig Design
Raxhas Colite - Stage Manager
Alison Savino - Assistant Stage Manager
August Eriksmoen - Orchestrations
Ian Eisendrath - Arrangements
Jonathan Steele - Production Photos
MUSICIANS:
Angie Benson - Conductor/Accordion
Mark Gehret - Bass
Israel Corona - Guitar
Austin Tewksbury - Guitar/Mandolin/Bouzouki
Dakota Singerline - Drums
Tara McGurk - Bodhran/Percussion
Em Squatrito - Fiddle
Sam Moffet - Whistles/Irish Flute/Uilleann Pipes