9/11 musical ‘Come From Away’ seems more compelling than ever at Paper Mill Playhouse

JEREMY DANIEL

Cast members in “Come From Away” at The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn.

The musical “Come From Away” is about events that happened in 2001, and it premiered in 2013. But it feels as if it could have been written with 2026 in mind. To “come from away” means to be a traveler, or an immigrant. “If you’re comin’ from Toledo or you’re comin’ from Taipei/Because we come from everywhere, we all come from away,” sing the characters in the show’s final song.

The show — which is currently enjoying a flawless, emotionally compelling and topically meaningful production at The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn — zeroes in on a previously little known (internationally, at least) part of the 9/11 story. Immediately after the attacks of that day, American airspace closed, and so U.S.-bound planes were diverted elsewhere. Nearly 40 planes, with some 7,000 people, were instructed to land at Gander International Airport in the small, isolated town of Gander on the island of Newfoundland, Canada. And they weren’t cleared to leave until five days later.

JEREMY DANIEL

From left, Jeannette Bayardelle, Lisa Helmi Johanson, Lisa Howard, Andréa Burns, Rema Webb and Erica Spyres in “Come From Away.”

Not surprisingly, it was a chaotic five days. Gander isn’t built to accommodate that many people. What would they eat? Where would they stay, and how could they be transported there? How do you deal with passengers who are traveling with infants, or need medications, or don’t speak English?

Twelve actors, all playing two or more roles, portray some of the stranded passengers and some of the Gander residents who helped everyone get through the ordeal, relying on hard work and an old-fashioned sense of decency — as well as a fair amount of alcohol. (Irene Sankoff and David Hein, who co-wrote the book as well as the music and lyrics, interviewed some of the people who were there, in order to get their stories.)

While 9/11 was a monumental world event, this is a tale of small-town altruism, and how that changed an eclectic batch of people who found themselves having to depend on it.

Gander characters include Beulah (Lisa Howard) and Annette (Jeannette Bayardelle), schoolteachers who take charge of food and lodging efforts; Janice (Lisa Helmi Johanson), who is starting a new job as a TV reporter and finds herself in the middle of a news hurricane; the town’s slightly eccentric but sensible mayor Claude (James Moye), who attempts to persuade union leader Garth (David Socolar) to suspend a schoolbus drivers’ strike in order to help move the stranded flyers; friendly cop Oz (Nick Gaswirth); and Bonnie (Erica Spyres), who volunteers to care for the animals — including two rare bonobo chimpanzees, one of whom is pregnant — that were being transported on the planes, and are now stranded, too.

JEREMY DANIEL

Andréa Burns and Kent M. Lewis in “Come From Away.”

Plane characters include introverted British businessman Nick (Kent M. Lewis), who finds himself attracted to outgoing Texas divorcee Diane (Andréa Burns); a gay couple, both named Kevin (John El-Jor and Socolar), whose relationship is starting to grow strained; and Bob (Jason Tyler Smith), a street-smart New Yorker who is perpetually on his guard, but eventually softens.

Some of the characters try to pass the time with silly jokes. One is that Newfoundlanders are terrible at knock-knock jokes … because their doors are always open.

Is it all a bit corny? Sure, you could see it that way. But the musical is grounded in harsh reality by characters such as plane passenger Ali (El-Jor), an Egyptian Muslim who is regarded with suspicion by some of the other characters and is subjected to a humiliating strip search before being allowed to board his plane again, once it is cleared to leave; and Hannah (Rema Webb), who anxiously awaits news of the fate of her New York firefighter son.

Webb’s powerful voice helps bring the show to its emotional climax in the song, “Something’s Missing.” One of the planes’ pilots, Beverley (Bayardelle), also has a deeply affecting ballad, “Me and the Sky,” in which she reflects on her career, and the meaning of 9/11 for her, personally.

“The one thing I loved more than anything was used as the bomb,” she sings. “Suddenly I’m in a hotel/Suddenly something has died/Suddenly there’s something in between me and the sky.”

JEREMY DANIEL

Rema Webb in “Come From Away.”

The score frequently has elements of traditional Canadian music. Director-choreographer Richard J. Hinds, who was the associate choreographer for the musical’s 2017-2022 Broadway production, has underscored the good-natured camaraderie at the heart of the story by having the actors frequently play acoustic musical instruments together, as if they are engaging in a loose, fun, folksy jam session. Many of the songs have a rich, multi-layered sound; in addition to the actors’ music, the show has a buoyant six-piece band, led by keyboardist and music director Sam Groisser, that stays mostly offstage.

The musical ends with a brief look at some of what has happened to these characters in the years after 9/11 — of the ways they continue to honor their experience, and the bond they still feel. We are also told that “Newfoundland is one of the only places outside of the United States where we share the steel from the World Trade Center.”

When the musical premiered in 2013, this statement was, obviously, a powerful symbol of American-Canadian solidarity, and worldwide community. But now, with some of our politicians acting so childishly toward our neighbors to the North, it seems like something that represents even more than that. Something that urgently needs to be said, and cheered. And never forgotten.

The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn will present “Come From Away” through March 1. Visit papermill.org.

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