Review: ‘Come From Away’ captures 9/11 aftermath with dynamic cast, direction

Few people will ever forget where they were when they heard about 9/11. The attack on America on September 11, 2001, was the deadliest terrorist act in history, one that left a world angry, sad and scared and claimed nearly 3,000 victims. Since that time, numerous projects have tried to deal with the events and the aftermath of that day, but Come From Away probably comes closest to capturing that sense of the confusion and standstill of the week that followed, as well as the resilience of so many. 

City Springs Theatre Company’s rousing production of the musical runs through March 29 at the Byers Theatre in the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center. It’s a show that has managed to remain potent eight years after its New York bow.  

Seven thousand air passengers, transported on 38 planes, had to be redirected after 9/11 and wind up unexpectedly in Gander, Newfoundland, after U.S. airspace was closed. Gander folk refer to those who are nonlocal as “come from aways,” and the musical introduces us to several of the colorful townspeople as well as passengers who were traveling during the attack. 

The cast of 12, with six men and six women all playing multiple roles, includes John Scherer as Claude, the mayor of Gander; Lowrey Brown as Oz, the constable of the town; Courtenay Collins as Beulah, a teacher at Gander Academy; and Rhyn McLemore as Bonnie, who works with animals. 

Among the stranded passengers are Diane (Deborah Bowman), a housewife from Texas, and Nick (Steve Hudson), a British man who has never been married. The two get to know each other during the unexpected stay in Gander. Kevin T (Jonathan Ludwikowski) and Kevin J (Nasir Ali Panjwani) are a gay couple who work together, while Beverley Bass (Kate Fahrner) is a pilot. Other characters include Janice (Megan K. Hill), a reporter covering the events and trying, like everyone else, to make sense of it all; Hannah (Shena Renee), the mother of a missing New York firefighter; and Bob (Kyle Robert Carter), an American caught up in the situation. 

The regional premiere is directed by Shuler Hensley, the Tony award-winner who acts as artistic director of City Springs. He has staged a number of musicals at the company — The Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof and The Music Man — and has a firm handle on the material. It’s a fast-paced show at 100 minutes with no intermission, and it moves with ease. 

The real strength of the musical has always been its humanity, showing how the townspeople of Gander happily jumped in to take in the passengers and treat them like family during such an unprecedented moment in history. Both the book and the score are by Irene Sankoff and David Hein, a husband-and-wife tandem, and they have based the work on real events. 

As rich as Come From Away is, though, it’s never been a perfect show. Some of the characters don’t have the dimensions the others do, and others blur together. And a few of the accents are overdone. 

Yet Hensley’s production overall is full of wonderful moments and numbers. The musical starts with the iconic “Welcome to the Rock,” where Gander folks are going about their day-to-day affairs when they hear about what happened. 

Beverley is the first female captain for American Airlines and takes immense pride in her job and the safety of her passengers. The character sings about that in “Me and the Sky,” which might be the sharpest number in the entire production.  

In the haunting “Something’s Missing,” Hannah finally learns the fate of her son. Another terrific moment comes during “Lead Us Out of the Night,” where the passengers — having spent hours on planes and then shuffled around without information — finally catch a glimpse of TV for the first time and see the images of what has just happened, realizing the world has forever changed. 

It’s astonishing to realize that only 12 performers bring so many characters to such vivid life. Some are a bit better than others, but, as an ensemble they are very strong. Cast standouts include Brown, Carter, Renee and Panjwani, who also plays Ali, a Muslim traveler whom the others are skeptical of just after the attack  

Holt McCarley leads an exemplary onstage orchestra, which includes Sam Skelton, Bill Hatcher, Dave Frackenpohl, Kenneth Lambert, Tim Aucoin, John David and Joel Morris. Marla Phelan serves as the musical’s choreographer. Her work — especially in a show that doesn’t rely on traditional song and dance and is pretty nonstop — is top-notch: not flashy and moving performers around the stage convincingly. 

I saw Come From Away on Broadway, and it remains one of the most electrifying and exhilarating productions I’ve ever seen. I’m still gutted that it lost most of all of the 2017 Tony Awards it was nominated for that year to Dear Evan Hansen, with the exception of Best Director for Christopher Ashley. After a new national tour, it’s available for regional theater runs, and City Springs is doing an admirable job with this staging.

Where & When 

Come from Away is at City Springs Theatre Company’s Byers Theatre through March 29. Tickets start at $76.
1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs.

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Jim Farmer is the recipient of the 2022 National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Award for Best Theatre Feature and a nominee for Online Journalist of the Year. A member of five national critics’ organizations, he covers theater and film for ArtsATL. A graduate of the University of Georgia, he has written about the arts for 30-plus years. Jim is the festival director of Out on Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQ film festival, and lives in Avondale Estates with his husband Craig.