RETURN FLIGHT
LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE-BORN MUSICAL ‘COME FROM AWAY’ IS BACK IN SAN DIEGO
San Diegans who missed the chance to see La Jolla Playhouse’s spring 2015 world premiere of “Come From Away” will finally get their chance when the musical’s North American tour finally makes its pandemic-delayed inaugural visit to the San Diego Civic Theatre next week. Married Canadian writer-composers Irene Sankoff and David Hein based their musical on the true story of how kind residents in the small town of Gander in Canada’s island province of Newfoundland mobilized to care for, feed and house roughly 6,600 stranded international air travelers after 38 passenger jets were grounded there for days in the wake of the terrorist bombings on Sept. 11, 2001. The musical’s unusual name is the phrase native Newfoundlers use to describe anyone not born on the island.
After a record-breaking run at the Playhouse, the musical moved on to runs in Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Toronto
before opening on Broadway in 2017, where it earned seven Tony nominations. Its sole win went to La Jolla Playhouse artistic director Christopher Ashley, who won the Tony for Best Direction of a Musical. Ashley went on to direct multiple international productions and tours of “Come From Away,” as well as a filmed version that premiered on the Apple TV+ streaming service on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks last September. Ashley spoke about “Come from Away” in a recent phone interview.
Q:
What are your ref lections on “Come From Away,” which opened seven years ago this month at the Playhouse?
A:
It really is a story about taking care of each other in difficult times . ... You can’t help but watch the show through the lens of all that has happened since then: the craziness of the pandemic, the shutdown of theater, the conversation on race and the division of the country. This show is about the importance of kindness and grace and taking care of each other. That’s something that’s more urgent now than it ever was. Also, coming back into a theater again, there’s something profoundly satisfying about sitting in a community of audience members experiencing a play together.
Q:
A highlight of your direction of “Come From Away” is its simplicity, with just 12 actors playing all the roles, minimal props and costume changes and a handful of onstage musicians. Can you tell me how you and choreographer Kelly Devine came up with the idea to stage it that way?
A:
Very much with Kelly, we
did a first workshop to get the show on its feet in Seattle and we said, ‘Let’s try to work on 20 minutes of the show and see how simply we can do it with only 12 chairs, two tables and 12 bodies.’ It felt thrilling with that limitation. We were watching people tell the story with imaginativeness, simplicity and cooperation. The actors have to really collaborate to make that happen and that’s the point of the show — people taking care of each other at every moment.
Q:
What are some of your
favorite memories from “Come From Away”?
A:
I loved the research trips I
took to Gander before we staged it. The people there are every bit as extraordinary as presented in the show. I put on five pounds a week when I was there because they’re constantly feeding you. They’re amazing storytellers, really funny and vulnerable in the most welcoming way. It’s also interesting now, years into the run, to watch the personalities and humanity of the 12 actors and musicians onstage. They really become the story and the show is always different because of who’s in it. They’re not a cog in the machine, they’re the event. It feels fresh every time.