Plan B Forum

If this sounds like the beginning of a sick joke, then so too might the idea of producing a musical comedy about 9/11. I didn't get the chance to see Come from Away in its first two Toronto runs, but I finally got the chance tonight, and it surpassed every expectation I had from the praise heaped on previous productions.

It tells the story of how the town of Gander, Newfoundland (population 11,000) responded when 38 planes carrying 6,700 people were diverted there on 9/11 when U.S. airspace was closed. I had read many factual accounts of the events of that week, but for me none captured the hardships facing the passengers or the enormity of the task taken on by the townspeople as well as this show did. For 100 minutes without intermission, the entire theatre was kept spellbound by a performance that the audience laughing, crying or both simultaneously throughout. It is a testament to how love, compassion, kindness, faith and hope can overcome the hatred and fear that come from evil (so nothing that wes could ever experience or understand).

I wouldn't have posted about such "old news" here, except that a new North American tour may be bringing it soon to a city near you, and if you haven't seen it, you simply must.

Thanks for the heads up. I heard about it but did not know that there was a tour. St Louis and Chicago are both about 5 hours drive for me. Will put it in my calendar.

I landed at Gander in 1956 +/- a year. My family lived in Mexico City, and we travelled from London to NY via Gander (and changed planes in NY for the Mexico leg) in a Super Constellation with the triple tail fin. They had beds for overnight flights pretty much where the overhead lockers are now. I have no recollection of Gander and guess that I slept through it.