Come From Away & Join The Kitchen Party

You might not expect a musical written in the aftermath of 9/11 to be filled with joy & hope. But the smash-hit Come From Away honours the goodwill shown by the people of a small Newfoundland town on the day that tragedy shook the world.

September 11, 2001, will go down in history as the day the world witnessed the very worst of mankind. However, while the unforgettable act of terror shook us all, there was a story of human kindness unfolding in the margins – in the tiny town of Gander, on the Canadian island of Newfoundland. That story is now being told in the musical Come from Away – which has just premiered at the Comedy Theatre in Melbourne.

The Tony Award-winning musical brings to life the true story of Operation Yellow Ribbon, when some 6,700 strangers – known colloquially as ‘Come from Aways’ – descended on Gander after flights were diverted out of US airspace after the terror attacks.

The creators of the musical, Irene Sankoff and David Hein, were living in New York City at the time of 9/11. But they say it wasn’t until the 10-year commemoration of the tragedy that they heard about the so-called ‘plane people’ and their grounding in Gander.

“We were living in New York on 9/11. My cousin was in the towers but she escaped, so our focus at the time was understandably in New York,” says Hein, who co-wrote the musical’s book, music and lyrics with wife Irene.

“Years after 9/11 a friend of ours told us what happened in Gander, and said it would make a great musical. That resonated with us because, at the time of 9/11, we were living in a

community of 700 students from 100 countries who also took care of each other during the tragedy,” he says.

Cue to 2011 when Sankoff and Hein, both of Toronto, were awarded a Canadian Government grant to head to Newfoundland for the commemoration ceremony. “This event presented an … opportunity for us to interview those Come from Aways returning to Gander to honour the kindness they’d seen and to reunite with lifelong friends they’d made,” explains Hein.

“From those interviews we created amalgams of characters who alternate between playing the role of a local and a Come from Away. The metaphor is that we could all be in others’ shoes as ‘helpers’ or ‘someone needing help’.”

Sankoff admits that she had her doubts about writing a musical about the aftermath of the terror attacks – until she visited Gander, where, she says, “music is part of the town’s DNA”.

Hein says he grew up listening to Newfoundland music – which he describes as “incredible, life-affirming Celtic folk music” that evolved from early settlers. “It’s all fiddles, guitars, accordions and ugly sticks [a mop screwed into a boot with bottle caps stuck to it],” he says.

Locals refer to Newfoundland as ‘The Rock’ because of its isolated location in the North Atlantic Ocean. It’s this isolation that Hein says is at the heart of the makeshift jam sessions known as ‘kitchen parties’. “Ganderites attend kitchen parties to survive the hardship of living on a rock in the middle of the ocean in winter, where the average low is –10°C,” he says.

“They bring instruments to each other’s homes and have kitchen parties where they sing and dance and come together as a community.”

Hein says it was their vision to present a musical that invites the audience to experience the warmth of a Newfoundland kitchen party. “Come from Away isn’t a story about the 9/11 tragedy; it’s a story about how a small town responded to that tragedy – with kindness, generosity and music. They did impromptu concerts, they made sandwiches, they gave toys to the kids … Anything to ease what the ‘plane people’ were going through,” he says.

Hein adds that the story is about the power of the human spirit. “It’s about people coming together and caring for others regardless of religion, sexual preferences or race,” he says.

Claude Elliott, Gander’s mayor at the time of 9/11, was instrumental in coordinating efforts on the ground. He says knowing Gander played a role in spreading kindness makes the community very proud. “The musical has shown that love and compassion is what the world needs,” he says.

Come from Away has achieved critical acclaim since premiering on Broadway in 2017 and, after playing seasons in both Canada and the UK, has just opened in Melbourne.

Sankoff says what she found most moving about the efforts of those in the Newfoundland township is that they possessed no paranoia or suspicion towards the ‘plane people’. She says in opening their arms to the Come from Aways, they helped to tilt the world, ever so slightly, back into balance.

• Come From Away is playing now at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne. comefromaway.com.au