Remember when Canadians and Americans treated each other like close family and the best of friends? It wasn’t all that long ago when communities along both sides of our longest border and any vacationers could just show ID and be cheerfully waived through. The last time I visited Canada, several decades ago, was when we rented an out-of-season ski cabin for the summer in Jay Peak, Vermont. Ironically, other than our first night (when we got to enjoy the fireplace) that summer proved to be one of the hottest on record in Vermont, and the coolest in South Florida! So, we spent a lot of time in not-so-freezing local lakes and exploring the neighborhood, including an impulsive drive across the nearby Canadian border.
We’d come from a park music festival featuring, of all things, a Klezmer (traditional Yiddish music) band, and a local farmers’ market where we’d bought some fresh produce. The Canadian border guard believed us when we said we’d leave these in the trunk as they were just for our personal consumption when we returned. He was however bemused when we explained we were heading to Canada for lunch, insisting there was nothing out there but farmland. But he let us through. And after miles of circular haystacks, we found a quaint local farm museum that signed us up for an annual family membership (at a very low rate, and cheaper than two single-day passes).
I could go on with how impressed I was another time when visiting my cousin and her new Canadian husband in Ottawa, and how clean and well-organized their capital city looked. And, yes, the cliché holds true: I’ve yet to meet a Canadian who isn’t just plain nice and polite! But then most every American has a positive Canadian story to tell. I especially feel for those communities on the border who would think nothing of crossing several times a day – for business, shopping, and especially to visit family (as many intermarried). I know (at least among my crowd in South Florida) that we’ve not suddenly come to hate our northern neighbors and many, if no longer Canadian themselves, still have family up north.
But according to the news – especially a public radio interview with Justin Trudeau’s former deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, who’d just published a political memoir about Canada-U.S. relations titled Unreliable Boyfriend – most Canadians completely support current PM Mark Carney’s strong anti-American stance and feel our relationship has been irreparably severed. Freeland counts herself in the minority when she says she still holds hope for a future path forward for our two countries who were once so close and are stronger together.
Last month we commemorated the 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A day and time that’s seared in our collective memory: Both for its shock to our sense of security and for how, in the aftermath of this unprecedented horror, Americans of all backgrounds, demographics, and political stripes came together to mourn the tragic loss of life, to celebrate the heroes who fought back, and to reaffirm our democratic values. And the entire free world mourned with us and had our backs.
Nothing touches the human soul as deeply as the arts, so it isn’t surprising that the events of 9/11 instigated a strong written, film, and theatrical response. Perhaps most memorable and emotionally touching was the Tony Award-winning musical COME FROM AWAY which is based on the true story of what happened when all U.S. and Canadian airspace was shut down on September 11, 2001, and 38 planes carrying almost 7,000 passengers (both domestic and international) were diverted to Gander International Airport (once an important refueling stop and still a preferred emergency landing point).
The small airport town of Gander, on the northeastern part of the Canadian island of Newfoundland, suddenly found itself tasked with hosting stranded passengers for up to six days. Neighboring communities chipped in by opening their homes and cooking meals for these unexpected guests as well, as the number of stranded airline passengers and crews amounted to 66% of Gander’s local population.
My best friend from New York couldn’t stop raving about the musical after she’d seen its Broadway debut in 2017 and still counts as an all-time favorite. I’m so happy to finally get the chance to see it as well! Thank you, Slow Burn Theatre Company and co-founders, Patrick Fitzwater and Matthew Korinko, for having the wisdom and foresight to choose the perfect season opener for our times. A show that reminds us how humanity can act nobly – as depicted by the selfless warmth and generosity of our neighbors up north. Over five days in September 2001, small town communities stepped up to help strangers at a time when the world felt upside down. And everyone gained from an experience that included forming unlikely lifetime friendships between culturally diverse individuals who would never have met otherwise.
Slow Burn’s artistic director Patrick Fitzwater who, as usual, also serves as the musical’s impeccable director, reflects: “Come From Away reminds us that even in the most difficult and uncertain moments, there is an extraordinary capacity for people to come together. This is a story about strangers becoming neighbors, fear giving way to trust, and the profound impact of simply choosing to help someone in need.”
The almost unbelievable, fantastic story is perfectly staged in musical form with book, music and lyrics by Tony and Grammy Award nominees Irene Sankoff and David Hein, orchestrations by August Eriksmoen, and arrangements by Ian Eisendrath. The audience-favorite garnered numerous awards, including seven Tony nominations (won Best Direction of a Musical), and three Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical.
A rustic set of tall, autumn leaf trees includes wooden fences behind which sits a live and most lively eight-piece band which plays with perfection nonstop – from rousing and rebellious anthems to soft, wistful ballads. There’s an old Irish lilt to many of the numbers, reflecting Newfoundland’s early European origins which also appears in various “Newfinese” accents and Irish step-dance-style moves.
My first surprise was how well the musical recreated early feelings of tension and fear on both sides. Captive passengers were kept for 18 hours or more after landing without being given any information. But flight attendants did attempt to keep them “happy” by freely handing out their supply of small liquor bottles while continually running their entire list of onboard movies. And when one passenger succumbed to panic or despair, his fellows did their best to share rarely working phones to contact loved ones, or (mostly) just offer a sympathetic ear.
We also hear what’s happening over at Gander, the small town near the airport that normally services some six planes a day when suddenly 14 area traffic controllers rush over to handle 38 planes requesting clearance from all corners of the globe, bringing circa 7,000 passengers – almost double the local population.
Meanwhile, the town’s officials, who’d been informed of the unprecedented decision to close all air space over Canada and the U.S., banning any takeoffs for the foreseeable future, become suspicious that some of these planes might be carrying bombs. So they leave them sitting on the ground and won’t allow anyone to disembark. And when they finally open the cabin door, no one is allowed to get their luggage. But the American Airlines flight we are following does advise passengers take their blankets and pillows with them off the plane.
All the stress and excitement is personified in the rapid strong beats of the Company’s opening number, “Welcome to the Rock,” which also introduces us to a bit of Gander history and the townspeople who are recruited to serve as emergency hosts to the hordes. Everyone – from the mayor to local schools, pharmacies, markets, restaurants and businesses, along with ordinary folk – put suspicion aside and quickly accept the challenge of providing a place to sleep, eat, rest, even recreational activities.
The women take special care to help any pregnant mothers and those with young children. There’s even an area SPCA (the Canadian ASPCA) manager who insists on boarding planes to rescue abandoned animals. She ends up caring for a special needs kitty, a cocker spaniel puppy, two chimpanzees, and a pregnant bonobo.
The school bus driver strike is put on hiatus for the emergency (as the union leader states, “We have no issue with the poor people stuck on the planes”) and they dutifully drive their buses back and forth all night delivering passengers to gymnasiums, schools, and neighboring towns for lodging. Full Company numbers “28 Hours/Wherever We Are” followed by “Darkness and Trees” speaks to the passengers’ sense of dislocation and even foreboding at being bused in the dead of night to who knows where with not a familiar landmark in sight.
While all this is happening, we get to meet the show’s all-star cast, many of whom we recognize from former Slow Burn musicals and other local theaters. Their outstanding performances kept me rapt and breathless. (Being hopelessly soft-hearted, and given today’s political nastiness, I admit to also feeling tearful throughout much of the show when pondering what we’ve lost while watching ongoing depictions of a small town’s natural inclination toward acts of kindness.) I didn’t see Come From Away’s debut, but I have attended Broadway blockbusters in the past and can’t imagine any theater doing a better job with this musical than Slow Burn from their home base at Broward Center’s Amaturo Theater. At the Center’s midsize venue, you also get seats with excellent sightlines!
In an exemplary performance, company co-founder Matthew Korinko as Mayor Claude heads the town’s operation with decisiveness and nonstop sleepless determination. The mayor serves as de facto master of ceremonies from the start, with strong vocals that lead many group numbers, especially “Screech In.” When a large fresh food delivery arrives to no more freezer space, Mayor Claude even cancels an upcoming ice hockey game (a really BIG deal!) to convert their ice rink into the world’s largest freezer.
Brennan Stephanik is the nicest Constable Oz who’s known for his light touch when dealing with local miscreants but is suddenly pushed into the position of enforcing law and order. Stephanik also plays an Orthodox Jewish rabbi (in a town that never saw a Jew) who will only eat Kosher. So they find him a private kitchen where he can cook for any Jews who may have landed, but also ends up servicing Muslims, who keep similar dietary laws, and vegetarians. 
Powerhouse vocalist Kimberly Doreen Burns plays both professional, dedicated first-ever female American Airlines pilot Beverley, with a knockout number about her passion for flying in “Me and the Sky.” And in a completely opposite role, she entertains us as Gander Academy’s flirtatious schoolteacher Annette who’s forever swooning over hunky men in uniform. Lindsey Corey’s passionate performance as SPCA animal-welfare advocate Bonnie, along with her strong vocal participation in airline passenger numbers, are a standout as well. (Corey also serves as dance captain.)
Kareema Khouri as Hannah – a desperately worried mother of a New York City firefighter who can’t be located – provides a stunning solo rendition of “I Am Here” (where she’s forever leaving messages on her son’s phone). Laura Turnbull as Beulah – the tenacious guiding hand of Gander Legion, the town’s volunteer relief & hospitality unit – is also a fireman’s mom. While busy organizing placements for countless arrivals, she seeks out Hannah whose worries she understands all too well. After taking her into her home and heart, these two women become lifelong friends.
When the arrivals finally learn what’s happened in the world, they sit glued to TV screens, watching an endless loop of terrible news. Finally, their hosts insist they get some rest while they spend the night cooking and preparing a 4 am breakfast for their Berliner guests who are on German time. “Costume Party” mentions dreams, overnight thoughts, and connections made by many of the passengers, but features gay couple Kevin T (Justin Anthony Long), who will soon touch us deeply with his soulful rendition of “Prayer.” And Kevin J (Lee Hollis Bussie) who, in white headscarf, also gives a vivid performance as Muslim-Egyptian, Ali. The sincere professional chef just wants to help out in the kitchen, but given his Middle Eastern ethnicity, is considered untrustworthy and is constantly subjected to racial profiling. 
Two lonely strangers from two different worlds meet on a plane, are marooned under dire circumstances and, against all odds, fall in love. It could happen, and it did, even at middle age. The start-and-stop shy romance between friendly, outgoing Texan Irene Adjan as Diane and pedantic, rather repressed British executive Michael Dean Morgan as Nick offers a constant source of bemusement and romantic hope. Maybe it was the magic of the age-old tradition of kissing a codfish to become an “Honorary Newfoundlander,” along with free-flowing booze, that finally turns the tide in their relationship.
Kristi Rose Mills plays Janice, the novice young local reporter who’s thrown into the story of a lifetime as she attempts to do her job conveying the sensational fast-moving news from overseas and in her town, as clearly as possible. As the only newscaster on the ground in Gander, she even gets an invite from Oprah Winfrey ten years later, leaving her deliriously overjoyed at the contact.
It takes some time for Justin Phillips, as Bob, to accept that the good people of Gander don’t typecast or suspect Black men just because of the color of their skin. He’s obviously well off yet had been raised with the rules of the hood and is especially worried about sleeping among strangers who might steal his wallet. Then he can’t fathom being instructed to walk into someone’s yard and simply “take” their barbecue, fearing being shot at, arrested for theft or worse (the typical scenario in American cities). But the locals can’t understand, look at him and say: You’re a strong, able-bodied man. Take this truck and load it up with barbecues so we can all enjoy a community cookout! 
And then the neighbors “thank” him and help (though he wonders how they’ll ever get their own items back). Later, it’s the selfsame Bob who decides to take up a collection to at least somewhat financially repay the good townspeople for their generosity (no one will accept any cash when they leave, insisting, “You would do the same for me,” and they really mean it!). And everyone on their flight trusts him without a second thought; the many thousands of dollars in contributions he collects arrive safely in Newfoundland.
Swings Heather Simsay and Alexander “Alex” Blanco participate fully and beautifully in the cast numbers. Special acknowledgment also goes to dialect coach Michael Dean Morgan for recreating a Newfinese accent whose origin harkens back to the earliest European settlers: I detected hints of an Irish brogue. The lovely old-school Irish influence also comes across in the original orchestrations performed by musical director Allan Paglia (on piano) and his eight-piece band, and lovely Irish-style dances lead by dance captain Lindsey Corey.
Multipurpose scenic design by Nikolas Serrano with lighting design by Eric Norbury and Dan Donato’s sound design added atmospheric elements ranging from terror to suspense, to relief and exhilaration. All at just the right moments, thanks to technical director Timothy S. Dickey and production stage manager Amy Rauchwerger with assistant stage manager Jolie Rubinchik. And for instant, recognizable, back-and-forth role switches from Gander residents to airline passengers, we can thank costume designer Rick Peña.
It can feel unsettling when, after five clear days, the first rain arrives, and a hasty pre-hurricane takeoff leaves a strange (unwelcome) quiet both in the suddenly empty town and among the American Airline passengers. In one sense, the party is over, with everyone heading back to the reality of their everyday lives. But we, too, will miss our time “Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere” … “Something’s Missing.” The Finale brings back the magic – for a moment. And then, like everyone who experienced this horrifying, challenging … and ultimately enlightening and heart-warming journey to the heart of Newfoundland, we return to the present. Hopefully emboldened to make the world a better place to live in, once again.
Catch Slow Burn Theatre Company’s extraordinary production of COME FROM AWAY, playing now through October 25 at the Amaturo Theater of Broward Center for the Performing Arts at 201 SW 5th Ave. Fort Lauderdale 33312. Tickets at www.browardcenter.org, Homepage – Slow Burn Theatre Company, at Ticketmaster.com, by calling 954-462-0222 or visiting Broward Center’s AutoNation Box Office in person.
