Review: COME FROM AWAY at The Muny is a Soul-Stirring Piece of Musical Storytelling

Get in. Sit Down. Buckle your seatbelt and lower your lap bar. You are about to embark on an emotional roller coaster. Be prepared to feel euphoric highs, heartbreaking lows, and every emotion in between.  

This week The Muny transports its audience to “the edge of the world, where the river meets the sea.” On the northeastern tip of North America, just off the Atlantic Ocean, sits Gander, Newfoundland, where 38 jumbo jetliners, carrying 6,800 passengers were forced to land on September 11, 2001, after the FAA closed American airspace to civilian aircraft.   

Many of these passengers were stuck in their aircraft for over 24-hours. Most, if not all, were unaware of the horrific events of 9/11. The 6,800 passengers and crew members represented people from 100 countries. The refugee “plane people” remained stranded in Gander for a week, with the last plane leaving Gander on September 16, 2001. 

At that time, the population of Gander was 9,651. Within less than a day the number of people in Gander nearly doubled. The compassionate Newfoundlanders, led by Mayor Claude Elliott, fed, housed, and cared for the nearly 7,000 stranded passengers. Come From Away is this true story of the events the week following the attacks of September 11th.  

Written by Irene Sankoff and David Hein, Come From Away is a soul-stirring piece of musical storytelling. It’s not sappy or sentimental but an intensely emotional story of kindness. Sankoff and Hein’s book and music will make you smile, laugh, stomp your feet, and cry crocodile tears. Stuff you pocket with Kleenex, you’re going to need them.  

The Muny Premiere, directed by Seth Sklar-Heyn, is a one-of-a-kind production of Come From Away. This intimate, small show, with an ensemble cast of twelve, could easily be swallowed up in the expanse of The Muny stage, but it wasn’t.  

Sklar-Heyn and scenic designer Edward E. Hayne’s, Jr. staged the entire show on The Muny’s center stage turntable. Sitting atop the turntable is a multi-level tiered set flanked by watercolor images of fall northeastern foliage. Hayne’s grand, spinning set piece pulls the audience in and keeps them focused on Sklar-Heyn's emotive storytelling about the selfless generosity of the people in Newfoundland.   

Mike Tutaj’s video projections mostly mirrored Hayne’s fall watercolor palette to represent the remote Canadian costal landscape. The imagery is beautifully subtle. Tutaj enhances Sklar-Heyn's storytelling with short video clips of actual news footage showing the onslaught of planes in Gander and the makeshift shelters for the plane people. The video projections enhance the story’s sense of realism. 

It’s this technical collaboration between Sklar-Heyn, Haynes, and Tutaj that allows the diminutive Come From Away to share its bigger-than-life story with 11,000 theatregoers. The audience’s laughs, sniffles, sighs, and rapturous applause were indicative that this intimate story played big on The Muny stage.  

Sklar-Heyn, Michael Baxter, and their casting associate, Rachel Hoffman of The Telsey Office, assembled a dozen powerhouse actors who switch between the roles of the Gander residents and the stranded passengers. Come From Away is a masterclass in ensemble acting. Each actor juggles two characters, one with a Newfoundlander dialect, and another with varied international accents.  

The all-star cast marvelously sheds one character for the other in scant moments while executing Sklar-Heyn's intricate blocking and Jesse Robb’s joyful choreography on a constantly turning multi-level set piece. Credit dialect coach Joanna Battles for her work with this luminary cast.  

Come From Away is a love letter to Gander, but the story is driven by the relationships that develop. That’s what gives Come From Away its heartbeat. The empathic friendship between Newfoundlander Buelah (Zoe Vonder Haar) and New Yorker Hannah (Tamika Lawrence) is the piece’s emotional center. Lawrence and Vonder Haar portray Hannah’s grief anxiety and Beulah’s empathic compassion with profound sincerity. Vonder Haar’s is equally earnest in her work with Trey DeLuna as a kind-hearted but misunderstood Egyptian-Muslim passenger. Buelah signifies the townspeople's humanity and Vonder Haar embodies their warm benevolence. 

The nerdy Brit Nick (John Bolton) and the reserved American Diane’s (Ashley Brown) love affair is forged from trauma bonding. Their romance, born from the extreme circumstances, illustrates the strong personal connections forged in Gander. Bolton and Brown are lovely as the couple falling hard. They share a sweet and genuine moment atop a scenic lookout singing Stop the World. 

Come From Away is uplifting, but not all the stories told are hearts and flowers. The grim reality and human loss of 9/11 is not glossed over. Passengers attempt to reach family members not knowing if they’re alive. Greif is never far away. It is the authenticity in storytelling that keeps Come From Away from wallowing in sentimentality. 

The gravity of the situation takes its toll on other relationships. The two Kevins (Trey DeLuna and Jason Tam), a sparring couple, capture the fragility of relationships that don’t survive the adversity. DeLuna is fantastic in his dual roles as Kevin J and the Muslim passenger Ali. Tam matches DeLuna’s hysterics with his amiable portrayal of the lower-key Kevin T. Both get laughs when stuck on the Gander airport tarmac with a neurotic woman in their row (Vonder Haar’s plane passenger.)  

The breakout role in the Come From Away is the glass ceiling shattering female pilot who is based on real life American Airlines Captain Beverley Bass (Heidi Blickenstaff.) Bass was promoted to become the first female Captain at American. She represents the strength and conviction of the flight crews grounded at Gander International Airport as they awaited the opening of United States airspace to return the passengers to their destination.  

Blickenstaff captures the drive and trailblazing spirit of Beverley Bass slaying the anthemic Me and The Sky. Her portrayal illustrates the leadership Bass exuded to ascend to the rank of Captain, but she also shows Bass’ softer side as a loving wife, mother, and friend who suffered a personal loss in the 9/11 attacks. Blickenstaff’s goosebump inducing performance rivaled that of Tony nominated Jenn Colella in the original Broadway Company.  

Every member of this company delivers first-rate, deeply affecting, and infectious performances. Jacob Keith Watson, Abigail Isom, Andréa Burns, and Adam Heller perfectly capture the essence of town constable Oz, TV Reporter Janice, head of the local animal protection agency Bonnie, and town mayor Claude. Alan H. Green is affable as the suspicious Bob who was commissioned to “steal” BBQ grills from local yards for a cookout.  

Sklar-Heyn added eight talented actors and singers from The Muny’s Teen Ensemble to augment vocals, accentuate choreography, and fill in some of the space on the rotating platform. The eight blended seamlessly into the company without distraction. Carter Eiseman, Chloe Jennings, Grant LaMartina, Drew Mathers, Annakait Peters-Bahkou, Jarrod Rhodes, Jameson Roam, and Will Schulte enriched Welcome to The Rock, Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere, and the Finale.  

The Muny’s emotionally impactful Come From Away captures the humanity, heart, and soul of Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s poignant book and beautifully soaring score. This elite cast of actors transports the audience back to Gander, Newfoundland with lived-in and emotionally truthful performances. Director Seth Sklar-Heyn did the near impossible shrinking the colossal Muny’s stage into an intimate storytelling space. Scenic designer Edward E. Haynes’ revolving stage is genius. 

Come From Away continues at The Muny through July 2, 2025. Click the link below to purchase your tickets.   

Photo Credit: Phillip Hamer