REVIEW: COME FROM AWAY—La Mirada Theatre
- TheShowReport
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 14 minutes ago
A Modern Musical that Tells the Life-Changing Story of the Thousands of Passengers Diverted to a Small Newfoundland Community Following the 9/11 Disaster
SEPTEMBER 20—LA MIRADA THEATRE
Try, if you must, to resist the gale of good will that blows out of COME FROM AWAY, the big bearhug of a musical that opened on Saturday night at La Mirada Theatre, playing through October 12th.
But even the most stalwart cynics may have trouble staying dry-eyed during this portrait of heroic hospitality under extraordinary pressure. The musical pushes so many emotional buttons that you wind up feeling like an accordion. That does not mean that you’ll leave thinking you have been played.
After North American airspace was closed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, 38 diverted planes who had been en route from Europe to the U.S. made unscheduled, precautionary landings in the small town of Gander, Newfoundland — a former refueling stop with a two-person police force. Gander’s population of around 9000 townspeople almost doubled overnight when 6,700 frightened and disoriented “plane people” (and a few animals) emptied abruptly into the small hamlet.
The enormous job of housing, feeding, and caring for them all is the subject of the heartwarming true story, COME FROM AWAY, balanced perfectly with a vibrant and heartfelt score, inspired by the rich Celtic and folk music traditions of Newfoundland.
In the show’s book (by Irene Sankoff and David Hein, themselves Canadian), Gander is portrayed as almost teeth-grindingly sweet, with its quaint story-telling traditions, Irishy accents, and complete lack of hostility.
If there were Newfie townspeople who did not relish the chance to lose five days of sleep helping the strangers, we do not meet them; it is only among the passengers, most of them Americans, that we are shown distrust, prejudice, and a sense of entitlement. Indeed, the theme and organizing principle of the piece is the change caused by the forced interaction.
Not among the Canadians, of course; saints cannot be elevated any higher. But among the folks who have, as the title phrase implies, “come from away,” not one is left unimproved by spending time with the Ganderites. A gay couple from Los Angeles expects homophobia but finds acceptance; a repressed Texan divorcée reinvents herself sufficiently to snag an English boyfriend. When a “shelter-in-place” black guy from New York finally gets home he realizes: “I wasn’t just okay — I was so much better.”
It is also telling that when an actor briefly impersonates George W. Bush, delivering a broadcast announcement, there’s not a sniggle snort or snicker from the audience. This is a show without a satirical bone in its robust, rough-hewed body. That body is also surprisingly agile. Director Richard J. Hinds has steered his multicast, 12-member ensemble through a rushing, sung-and-spoken narrative that has them changing parts (and accents) on a Canadian dime.
They inhabit a set populated by simple framework furniture and a folksy onstage band that could easily do double duty for a “Riverdance” reunion. Ms. Sankoff and Mr. Hein, who wrote the music as well as the book and lyrics, understand fully that there’s nothing like a steady Gaelic drumbeat and a lilting pennywhistle to turn a skeptical audience into Pavlov’s slobbering dogs.
COME FROM AWAY, in other words, is smarter than it appears. The show starts off in a grating key of deep earnestness, as a chorus of Ganderians step to the edge of the stage to deliver a “Welcome to the Rock” anthem of hearty regional identity (“They say no man is an island, but an island makes a man”).
But as it proceeds, the show — based on interviews with the people who inspired it — covers a vast expanse of sensitive material with a respect for its complexity. It understands that much of what it portrays is guaranteed to stir fraught memories among many of us. And it mostly refrains from overegging what could have been a treacly, tear-salted pudding.
Instead, it uses comedic levity, or sustains an air of improvisational urgency, which feels appropriate to a show about making do in crisis, and it doesn’t linger on obvious moments of heartbreak and humanity. There’s a series of campy fantasy intrusions into the narrative, for instance — a gym teacher who can translate for Spanish passengers appears as a full-dress torero; a chorus line of stranded cardiologists volunteer to clean bathrooms. One funny scene of a Newfoundlander reaching out comes when a woman, played by Katrina Michaels, says: “Thank you for coming to Walmart. Would you like to come back to my house for a shower?”
The performers — a superb mix of Broadway veterans and professional actors from all mediums — come refreshingly in assorted shapes, sizes, ages and skin tones. As both Newfoundlanders and their visitors, they manage to convey clearly separate, full-fleshed identities, as they whiz past us in scene snippets and cameos, adding depth, comedy and tragedy alike to the story.
The production, which is also choreographed by Mr. Hinds, includes a handsome set by Nate Bertone and fine lighting by Steven Young, and does an awesome job in knocking you into submission. The Sankoff and Hein songs are all cunningly earworm, and your brain can't help but loop them over and over again in a folk-rock-meets-Celtic-revival vein that the show exploits with the mercilessness of a phlebotomist. (Cue the fiddle, bodhran, and uilleann pipes.) There is much spirited stomping with rich librettos, though rarely well rhymed — “kitchen”/ “pins in”? — are unfailingly and absurdly uplifting, as for instance when the Ganderites describe their home as “the land where the winds tried to blow / and we said no.”
The cast, however, sings beautifully in mostly choral unity but with occasional solos by Misty Cotton as Beverly, the American Airlines pilot, Nick (Kent M. Lewis), Diane’s Gwen Hollander, and Hannah’s Krystle Rose Simmons (“I Am Here”), as the mother of a New York City firefighter who tragically dies a hero.
It’s a remarkable celebration of the best of human nature as we relive not only the champions of 9/11, but some of the confusion and panic of those that were caught up in its consequences. Mostly, however, we witness the generous hospitality of a little northeastern community as they pull together to help their new friends and fellow human beings form bonds that will last for decades. And essentially, amid that challenging and surreal blur of activity, those 6700 stranded souls which were diverted to Gander, as well as the townspeople who became their friends, found that the world as they knew before will never look the same again.
LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & McCOY RIGBY ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS, COME FROM AWAY. Book, Music & Lyrics by IRENE SANKOFF and DAVID HEIN; Originally Produced on Broadway by JUNKYARD DOG PRODUCTIONS; Original Broadway Orchestrations by AUGUST ERIKSMOEN; Arrangements by IAN EISENDRATH; Directed & Choreographed by RICHARD J. HINDS; Musically Directed by SAM GROISSER; Scenic Design by NATE BERTONE; Lighting Design by STEVEN YOUNG; Sound Design by JOSH BESSOM; Costume Design by MICHELLE J. LI; Hair/Wig/Makeup Design by MELISSA DUPONT; Technical Director KEVIN CLOWES; General Manager BUCK MASON; Company Manager DAVID NESTOR; Production Stage Manager JILL GOLD.
STARRING: STEVEN-ADAM AGDEPPA; ANGELA CHATELAIN AVILA; MISTY COTTON; GWEN HOLLANDER; HAYDEN KHARRAZI; SAMANTHA LAWRENCE-MATA; KENT M. LEWIS; TAYLER METTRA; KATRINA MICHAELS; TARIF PAPPU; CLINTON ROANE; ERICH SCHROEDER; KRYSTLE ROSE SIMMONS; ANDY UMBERGER; MAURA VINCENT; FRANKIE ZABILKA
ORCHESTRA: SAM GROISSER (CONDUCTOR); LOGAN MITCHELL; NICOLE GARCIA; MICHAEL ABRAHAM; MCKINLEY FOSTER; DAVID HUGHES; NICK STONE; BEN MORROW; ERIC HEINLY; RANDY COHEN (KEYBOARD PROGRAMMER)
COME FROM AWAY, runs September 19th through October 12th at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd in La Mirada. Performances are Thursdays at 7:30 pm; Fridays at 8 pm; Saturdays at 2 pm & 8 pm; and Sundays at 1:30 pm & 6:30 pm. Parking is Free. Tickets range from $17.05 - $104.50 and can be purchased at www.LaMiradaTheatre.com or by calling the Box Office at (714) 994-6310.
Chris Daniels
Arts & Entertainment Reviewer
The Show Report
PHOTO CREDIT: Jason Niedle/TETHOS
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