Highly Recommended
Do you remember what you were doing when you heard (if old enough) what was happening 25 years ago in NYC and across the country?
“The borders of the United States are closed.” (That was what passengers of flights to the country were hearing as pilots came on planes’ loud speakers including the flight our daughter was on. She and a coworker were on their way back to California from a work trip to Europe. The date was 9/11.
Her plane landed in Edmonton, the capital of Alberta, Canada. Other planes, about 38 of them loaded with 7,000 passengers landed at Gander International Airport in the province of Newfoundland on the Atlantic coast.
And thus begins “Come From Away,” a much-nominated Tony Award musical by Irene Sankoff and David Hein now on stage at the Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire. The show is based on some of the happenings of real Gander residents and visitors from an American Airlines flight.
It is a short show of about an hour and a half with no intermission but every minute of it is strong with relationship development and a sense of what Gander is like.
To get a feeling of the moods of the Gander residents and plane’s passengers check out the musical numbers’ titles such as “28 Hours/Wherever We Are,” “Phoning Home” and “I Am Here.”
The play doesn’t really showcase a particular actor because everyone cast plays an integral part. Instead, it reflects how a town and a flight’s passengers react to a totally unexpected happening.
Details: “Come From Away” is at Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Dr., Lincolnshire, IL now through Oct. 18, 2026. For more information visit Marriott Theatre, Come From Away.
Jodie Jacobs