Something to watch tonight: Wednesday 5 February

Come From Away (Ashley, 2021)

When the president of the United States announced recently that he was imposing massive tariffs on Mexico and Canada, my first response wasn’t about the obvious strategic stupidity and economic incoherence. It was that the policy was so … rude. So disrespectful.

The speech given by Prime Minister Trudeau in response was so obviously hurt. Like, why would you do this to us? We thought we were friends?

I was reminded of a show that has been in my watch list for a few years now. Last night, we finally got around to it and I’m so glad we did. It was just what we needed as the world around us seemed to be falling into an endless pit of selfishness, cruelty, cynicism and despair.

Immediately following the September 11 terrorist attack in 2001, the skies above the United States fell silent as the FAA grounded every flight. All planes had to find an airport that could accommodate them and then await further instructions.

38 flights landed at Gander in Newfoundland, a tiny municipality that through an accident of history, just happened to have an international airport. (In the early days of transatlantic air travel all planes had to stop there to refuel.)

Instantly, the population of Gander increased by 7,000 people and all those new arrivals had to be fed, clothed and housed – nobody knew for how long. Somehow, the experience changed everyone involved – the generous townsfolk, and their unexpected guests from around the world – to the extent that many of the people on those flights still return to Gander for reunions and their stories have been turned into a delightful musical theatre show.

Come From Away was inspired by the 10th anniversary reunion in 2011 and the filmed version of the show is from 2021 – the 20th anniversary of the event and also 15 months after Broadway went dark thanks to the pandemic. The show was written by Irene Sankoff and David Hein, based on first-person reminiscences from the very real people involved.

A brilliant ensemble of all shapes and sizes inhabit characters from the town and the planes with equal affection. While it’s not a musical full of hits, the folkie score adds to the sense of Newfoundland being a kind of Celtic enclave on the very edge of the North American continent – “the rock” as they call it in the show. Theatre people will also appreciate the inventive staging from director Christopher Ashley.

At the end of our viewing last night, both the editor-in-chief and I said to each other, “that was great” and it was. A tonic in troubled times.

A final word of advice – don’t let Apple cheat you out of the complete credits.

Reminder: Tomorrow is a public holiday in Aotearoa New Zealand so there’ll be no newsletter.

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Where to watch Come From Away