A happy night at Come From Away

Come From Away

I was living in New York on September 11th. My husband watched the first tower go down. I only saw it on the news but I saw, every day, what it did to us New Yorkers. I won’t ever forget it; but I don’t ever talk about it. I do not need reminders. I don’t go to the Memorial downtown and I don’t participate in the remembrances every year on 9/11. I do not require any assistance remembering that day. That is why I don’t read about it, see movies about it, watch television about it. Or see plays about it.

When I read there was a musical on Broadway about September 11th I knew I would not see it. I can be quite stubborn about some things and 9/11 is one of them. I had no interest, whatsoever, in the September 11 musical. However, before much time had passed it had reached my ears that the play was astonishing, life-changing, and that it had become the hot ticket in town. It was made abundantly clear that I would need to see it. I begrudgingly and eye-rollingly accepted my fate. Only problem was that AS the hot ticket in town, I would have to come up out the pocket in order to see it – and I have a family to support and a job that takes up a lot of my time. I have to be choosy about when I will spend money and for what.

Come From Away simply was not a priority for me.

Until the day came that it became a priority for me because an actor whose work I have, greatly, admired was going into the Broadway production as a standby and I would have ample opportunities to catch her in the show, playing different characters. I strongly suspected that the cosmic purpose I had never seen Come From Away was so that when I did go see it, I would see it with Happy McPartlin on the Broadway stage.

I love learning new stories, so when I am seeing a play I try to stay away from any writings that have been created about the play, preferring to have the story unfold before me. It can be a most effective tool in enjoying the theatre-going experience to the fullest. Not gonna lie: sometimes it fails, especially in the case of poorly written theatre or poorly enunciated acting. My trip to Come From Away was one of the success stories.

Come From Away is the true story of the 38 planes commanded to land in the small town called Gander, in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, during the week after the September 11 attacks. Not only are all the characters based on real-life people, many of the characters actually use the names of the people in the story. This story, one I had never heard before, recounts the details of this small town’s reaction to the news of the 9/11 attacks, a reaction that compounds when airplanes are ordered out of the air, diverting these international flights to the closest landing sites possible. The forced guests of Gander effectively double the population of the town, and the hospitable Newfoundlanders are at a loss as to where they should be housed, how they should be fed and what should be done to make them feel welcome and accommodated. What transpires between the natives and the out-of-towners (the ‘come from away’) bonds them together for life.

I knew none of this upon entering the Schoenfeld Theatre, simply settling in to be taken on a ride. When I left the Schoenfeld 100 minutes later, my face was tear-stained and my heart was an open book of love, and I would venture to guess that this is the way most of the audience feels when they leave this play. Honestly, any person not affected in a loving and caring way by the play Come From Away either has a truly hard heart or is having a really bad day and no mistake. The play has so much goodwill rolling off the stage into the audience that it could actually run a risk at being hailed as sugary. It isn’t though, thanks to the masterful work of Irene Sankoff and David Hein, responsible for the book, music and lyrics, a Herculean effort that pays off in the extreme. There is not a single criticism to be had, for not only is the book of the play completely devoid of any coyness or pretension, the music is incredibly universal. There’s a traditional sound that people think of when they hear the word Broadway and there are newer musical theatre sounds based on pop music, rock music, country music, electronica music … Come From Away has a score that will appeal to audiences preferring a Broadway sound, but also to audiences looking for a more diverse sound. The music seems to draw from influences reflecting International cultures, varying dotages, and differing musical genres, but the salient quality in every song in the score is that they all seem to be breathing, they feel like a heart beating – it’s a humanity based rhythm that carries the score and the story forward in enthralling positivity until the final curtain, a curtain at which audience members stood and seemingly refused to leave the theatre. It’s been a great while since I witnessed something akin to this audience reaction, and were I not so moved by the storytelling I would have been moved by the response of the people stamping their feet and cheering for one more bow, one more encore, one more chorus.

When you enter the Schoenfeld and are directed to your seat the first thing you notice about the play is that the safety curtain is up and that you may examine Beowulf Boritt’s wonderfully simple set design, while listening to the band, lead by Ian Eisendrath, on stage and dressed as everyday folk in Gander. It perfectly sets the tone for what you are about to see, lets you come in as a ‘Come From Away’ that isn’t in the story but is welcome to observe the story, as a friend. Indeed, those band members move about the entire One-Act tale as members of the town, though they are not specifically characters in the play. No, no; the characters in the play are all conveyed through the brilliant acting skills of 12 people. All of the townspeople, all of the come from aways, all portrayed by twelve people. Time and again I’ve seen actors struggle with elaborate costume changes to assist an audience in following along as they became a second, third or fourth character in the play, but none of that here. Perhaps an addition of a cap, a jacket or eyeglasses, but most of the delineation between multiple roles is done by the alteration of posture or vocal timbre, it is created by trusting the audience, rather than pandering to them. It’s a refreshing trip to the theatre when everything isn’t laid out for you, explained for you and taken away from you. I like to use my mind when I go to the theatre, be required to pay attention, be expected to keep up, and this company of actors, led by director Christopher Ashley, gave me everything I hope for when I settle down into my seat and await the curtain up.

Come From Away

This is a true ensemble, as well it should be, because Come From Away demands equality in its storytelling, it is essential that every character’s contribution be acknowledged, be observed. In order for that to happen to full effect, nobody should stand out; and, indeed, nobody does stand out — except to me, for very personal reasons. Aside from those particular idiosyncrasies that caused me to scrutinize the work of three different actors, I found myself marveling at the ensemble of actors and how they move and sing and act as a unit, as a living, breathing organism. This ensemble is something special to watch and it’s not something you get to see every time you go to the theatre. It’s special.

The first standout for me is Jenn Colella, with whose work I’ve been kind of obsessed for a while. I can’t help it, I’m a gay man and I love a big-voiced woman. So I was very excited to see Miss Colella in this play – only I didn’t see her in this play because she was out that night. Instead, I saw an actor named Julie Reiber and I cannot tell a lie: at the end of the play I had to open my program to see if Jenn Colella had left the play. I hadn’t missed her. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still devoted. It’s just that, that night I became a fan of somebody new because Julie Reiber kicked SO much ass as Beverley (her main role – an airplane pilot)/Annette & others. I was sorry/not sorry that Miss Colella had the night off.

Jim Walton is not an original member of the Come From Away cast. He has been playing the Nick/Doug and others track since 2018 and I believe that he is one of the cosmic reasons I waited to see the show until I did. I’ve been seeing Jim Walton in shows for the last 25 years because when I was 17 I bought the cast album to the Sondheim play Merrily We Roll Along, and since that day the actors who appear on that cast album are a part of the mosaic that makes up me. Jim Walton is special in my life because he is Franklin Shepherd, and every time I see him in a play I feel connected to a part of my past that will always be with me. I have seen Mr. Walton in seven Broadway shows and he is always wonderful but I have to say that in Come From Away I have broken free of my Franklin Shepherd idolatry and seen Jim Walton for what a truly beautiful actor he is. The work he is doing in this show is simply sublime.

And playing opposite Jim Walton in the Nick/Diane storyline on the night that I went was the magnificent Happy McPartlin. Miss McPartlin is the aforementioned actor I wanted to see when I decided to go to Come From Away. I’ve been an admirer of the work of this versatile actor since the 90s when I caught her around town doing sketch comedy and cabaret shows. There are those actors that you see and make the decision to never miss when they are working and Happy McPartlin lands, squarely, on my shortlist of those actors, even drawing me out of town on occasion to catch her in the act. When I heard she was covering five different roles in Come From Away the big question became: which role do I want to see her go on as? I assumed the choice part would be the Jenn Collela role, Beverley, but I caught the show on her night as Diane and it was a grand stroke of luck because of the wistful tenderness she exhibits in a role loaded with pathos and heart. I’ve seen Miss McPartlin do showy and I was so grateful to have an opportunity to see the quiet strength and hopeful longing that she displayed in her scenes with Jim Walton, scenes overflowing with chemistry. Completely worth the wait.

Usually, when a play is over on Broadway the audience drops out of the story immediately. Filing out into the streets, they focus on buttoning up, turning on their phones, returning their listening device, throwing away their Playbill. Often I see audience members simply abandon the joy of seeing a play on Broadway, sometimes of seeing a great play on Broadway. This was not the exit scene at Come From Away. Strangers were talking to one another about what they had just lived through. People were smiling, some stayed in the auditorium, just looking at the stage. You could see that they had been changed, that they had learned something, that they were happy they came. It was a night rife with emotion, talent and humanity, one I still find myself thinking about. This magical play that my indifference and stubbornness might have caused me to miss became one of my most memorable nights in the theatre.

I guess I should send Happy McPartlin a thank you note.

Come From Away runs about 100 minutes with no intermission.