Theatre
Preview
Overheard: what people are saying about Come From Away
Come From Away launched in previews last week and we were loving the reactions of the audience. We've rounded up some of our favourite convos we overheard hanging out in the foyer after the show.
Come from Away played to its first Australian audiences last week, with each new group launching to their feet to give the cast and musicians a standing ovation. We were lucky enough to be there at the start of a moment and we loved the conversations that were happening around us.
Conversations we overheard in the foyer after the first preview of Come from Away:
“When I told people I was going to a musical about 9/11 they were really weirded out but I LOVED it”
While 9/11 might seem like a surprising theme for a musical the writers of this award-winning show, Irene Sankoff and David Hein, refer to the narrative as being a 9/12 story. Instead of focussing on the tragedy of the New York City terrorist attacks the musical tells a story of community and kindness toward strangers in the far-flung Canadian town of Gander in the wake of the events.
“I didn’t even notice there wasn’t an interval, I was too invested”
Come from Away plays for 100 minutes without an interval and in this time the cast barely leaves the stage. With minimal set and scenery changes and each of the cast playing multiple characters, there is very little downtime. The story transitions from one moment to the next with such poignant immediacy that, frankly, an interval has no time or place in the show.
“I wonder how true it is”
While some of the characters are amalgamations of different figures, the majority of the story is compiled directly from the writer’s extensive interviews with the ‘Ganderites’ and ‘plane people’. There were almost 7000 people who arrived in Gander and they really did spend 28 hours sitting on the planes before they were let off. There were Bonobo apes on one of the planes, two passengers who were strangers prior fell in love and were married, and they really did use the hockey rink as a giant walk-in fridge. Sometimes the truth really is better than fiction.
“I really liked the folk music”
The Irish and English heritage of Newfoundland brought with it a rich tradition of folk music, with most of it focussing on the seafaring tradition of the area. The sound is one that is unique to Newfoundland with their own lyrics and melodies but familiar with the sounds of the flutes and the fiddle. Come from Away brings this unique sound into the musical, interweaving the folk, folk-rock and traditional music theatre sounds.
Come From Away is now playing at the Comedy Theatre and we legit cannot wait for everybody to see it so we can talk about it with everyone we know (and strangers on the tram) so please grab some tickets here.
