COME FROM AWAY to Open at Bell Theater on 25th Anniversary

COME FROM AWAY, the Tony Award-winning musical, is set to open at Bell Theater on September 11, the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks that inspired the story.

Every character in the musical is based on a real person who either lived in Gander and the surrounding towns or was diverted there on 9/11. Capt. Beverley Bass was the first ever female pilot to be made a captain by American Airlines. New York resident Hannah O'Rourke was distraught when she couldn't contact her son, a Brooklyn firefighter, so Gander resident Beulah Cooper, whose son was also a firefighter, befriended her. Nick Marson, a British businessman, struck up a conversation with Texan Diane Kirschke while waiting in line for a blanket at a shelter. After they left Gander, their friendship continued with phone conversations; two months later, Nick proposed. They were married a year later and honeymooned in Newfoundland, where the mayor of Gambo wrote a song to commemorate the occasion.

The Bell Theater company includes Jessica Sheridan as Beulah, whose Broadway credits include The Music Man, Hello, Dolly!, Sister Act, Mary Poppins and Les Misérables. Brian O'Brien, who appears as Nick/Doug, has a 25+ year Broadway career that includes leading roles in Chicago, Beauty and the Beast, Annie Get Your Gun and Promises, Promises. Joy Hermalyn (Diane) most recently appeared on Broadway in Caroline, or Change and has been seen at Bell Theater in We'll Meet Again and at Axelrod PAC in Fiddler on the Roof. The cast is rounded out with Michael Daly (Oz), Jacob Canderozzi (Kevin T), Dara Gallagher (Bonnie), Melrose Johnson (Hannah), Aneesh Kathan (Kevin/Ali), Stephanie Lynne Mason (Beverley/Annette), Larry Tobias (Claude), Timothy Ware-Hill (Bob) and Maddy Wenig (Janice).

Event Details

Bell Theater at Bell Works, 101 Crawfords Corner Rd, Holmdel, NJ 07733