SEATTLE — Like most, 7,000 people traveling on 38 jetliners remember where they were on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
But unlike the rest of the world, few of them knew why at first.
While authorities tried to grasp the extent of the terrorist attacks, U.S. airspace was closed and the 38 domestic and international flights were diverted to a huge World War II-era airport at Gander, Newfoundland, Canada. During the flights and while waiting on the tarmac, information about the tragedy was kept from the passengers, until these “come from aways” were welcomed into the arms of the islanders.
That’s the back story of the blockbuster new musical “Come From Away,” playing now at the Seattle Repertory Theatre. It closes Dec. 20; so run for the box office.
Probably the hottest ticket in town, the musical was written by the Canadian husband-wife team of David Hein and Irene Sankoff, who traveled to the small town of Gander in September 2011 for the 10th anniversary of the “landing of the plane people.”
Now New Yorkers who were living in Manhattan on 9/11, the couple spent nearly a month in Gander interviewing the travelers and the local folks.
Most new musicals get “work-shopped” before making their big debuts. “Come From Away” spent time in Seattle at the 5th Avenue before premiering May 29 at the La Jolla Playhouse in California. The run at the Rep is co-produced with La Jolla, and many in the cast are from the original show.
Notable regional actors in the production are Erik Ankrim, who has done a lot of work with 5th Avenue, Village Theatre and others, and Rodney Hicks, who has Seattle and New York credits.
The show is performed by 12 actors who take on multiple roles as locals and travelers. The set is beautifully bare-boned, with the atmosphere created by a few trees and expert lighting, the side of a rustic building and a dozen mismatched chairs on a turntable floor.
In 90 nonstop minutes or so, the cast takes the audience from the moment people in Gander watched on TV as the World Trade Center was going down in flames, to the landing of the 38 airplanes and the feeding and housing of all the passengers, who nearly doubled the population of Gander for a few days. An evening farewell party then becomes the morning departure day.
The Rep’s packed house on Sunday night was spellbound as the stories unfolded of the mother whose son was a firefighter in Manhattan, the Texas woman who piloted one of the flights, the mayor of Gander, the school librarian, the local TV reporter, the air traffic controllers and the animal shelter manager who cared for the animals on the airplanes, including two bonobo chimps. We learn — through history, humanity and heartfelt experiences — about a gay couple, an African couple who doesn’t speak English, a Muslim chef, a Jewish rabbi, a Texan woman and a British man who fall in love, and the woman on one of the flights who keeps singing “My Heart Will Go On” from the Titanic movie.
Many new musicals leave audience members trying in vain to recall the tunes. My husband and I can still hear the stomping and singing of the on-stage Celtic band that included a fiddle, pipes, bodhran, accordion, bass, guitar and something called an “ugly stick.”
“I am an islander, I am an islander.”
My favorite scene is the one in which Christians, Muslims and Jews are praying in the same room at the same time. The sentiment is made for today.
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.
If you go
Seattle Repertory Theatre presents “Come From Away,” an original musical through Dec. 20 at Bagley Wright Theatre, Seattle Center. More at www.seattlerep.org.
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