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One of the more fascinating ripples emanating from 9/11 was the case of Gander, a small town in Newfoundland that once served as a well-known refueling station for international flights. On that fateful Tuesday, the aging Gander airport received 38 grounded airliners and their 7,000 passengers (adding to a town population of only 9,000).
Eventually, the husband-and-wife duo of David Hein and Irene Sankoff created a musical based on the many true stories within this remarkable event, and, in fact, in 2013, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley offered to develop it. They lost out to an old friend, former TheatreWorks managing director Randy Adams, whose Junkyard Dog Productions has shepherded the show through 1,600 performances on Broadway and international acclaim. “Come From Away” has now become the invading force, landing at TheatreWorks and receiving a first-class treatment under master director Robert Kelley, TheatreWorks’ artistic director emeritus.
The show is almost as much of a logistical challenge as the original event. Sankoff and Hein use an innovative approach in which each performer plays several different roles, depending on nothing more than wardrobe adjustments, facial expressions and accents to delineate one character from another.
The musical style is Newfoundland Celtic, with an onstage fiddle and guitar (Christina Walton and Tim Roberts). Much of the music is through-composed, allowing an ongoing stream of narrative and dialogue, with occasional timeouts for ballads and production numbers (a full 10 of the 18 numbers are listed as “Company”). The score also features many harmonies and choral touches, beautifully crafted under music director William Liberatore.
The main thrust of the show is the overwhelming and very Canadian generosity displayed by the Gander citizenry, but this is balanced by a darker side, the infighting and prejudice that comes with such a frightening situation. It also offered surprising moments of laughter, humor being a very human reaction to crisis.
Courtesy Kevin Berne.
The performance is so packed with humanity that perhaps the best that I can do is to offer some highlights:
 In “Me and the Sky,” pilot Beverley (Melissa WolfKlain) sings of her great love of flying and the price she had to pay: battling the old boys’ network of airline pilots. WolfKlain pours forth some beautiful top notes (dare I say “soaring”?). The song takes a heartwrenching turn when she realizes that her beloved planes have now been turned into bombs.
The mayor, Claude (Colin Thomson), leads the company through a goofy ritual that turns four “come from aways” into official Newfoundlanders. His rapid-fire phrases are impressive, and the merriment is contagious.
Hannah (Dawn L. Troupe) spends the long days and nights worrying over her son, a New York City firefighter, expressing her anxiety in the song “I Am Here.”
–Bob (Anthone D. Jackson), a Black American, finds himself befuddled and somewhat terrified at the trust put in him by the white locals. Jackson has a skilled sense of timing and gets maximum laughter from his situation, especially when the mayor instructs him to commandeer barbecue grills for the town cookout (“What?” he asks. “And get myself shot?”) Conversely, his adventures cast a shadow on the way he’s always been treated in America.
An Egyptian passenger, Ali (Adam Qutaishat), fights to overcome the bigotry brought into the open by 9/11. First he has to convince his nervous fellows that he wants to help with the food because he’s a master chef, then, as he’s about to board his plane out, he’s subjected to a humiliating cavity search.
Heather Orth stands out as Beulah, the woman in every small town who just gets things done. Her best friend (Melissa WolfKlain) indulges in a hilarious string of fantasies involving the new men in town.
British businessman Nick (Michael Gene Sullivan) finds sudden companionship with Texan Diane (Alison Ewing). Each of them realizes that this terrible, terrible event may have brought them to their soulmate. Almost as a counterpoint, gay partners Kevin T. and Kevin J. (Nick Nakashima and Adam Qutaishat) find the week’s stresses revealing the cracks in their relationship.
These few samples illustrate what a packed show this is, and I could almost see all these stories expanding into some long-running TV series (“Lost in Canada: A Week in Gander”). And TheatreWorks accomplishes it all in 100 minutes with no intermission. The events of 9/11 will always have a hold on our hearts, and this fairly amazing show gives us an excellent way to recall the unexpected positives, the way that ordinary people often pull together in a time of crisis.
“Come From Away” runs through May 10 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View. Tickets are $34-$115. TheatreWorks.org or 877-662-8978.
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