Come From Away
Rating: ★★★★★
Venue: New Wimbledon Theatre, London 
Cast: Natasha J Barnes, Daniel Crowder, Mark Dugdale, Rosie Glossop, Amanda Henderson, Kirsty Hoiles, Oliver Jacobson, Dale Mathurin, Nicholas Pound, Sara Poyzer, Jamal Zulfiqar and Bree Smith

Winner of four Olivier Awards including Best New Musical in London and the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical on Broadway, this smash hit show shares the incredible real-life story of the 7,000 air passengers from all over the world who were grounded in Canada during the wake of 9/11, and the small Newfoundland community that invited these ‘come from aways’ into their lives with open hearts.

One might wonder how on earth a musical can be written about one of the world’s greatest tragedies but Come From Away remains the most original musical ever to hit the West End. Drawing from and combining true stories from the events of September 11th 2001, the mostly sung-through show follows the emergency landing of 38 planes on the island of Gander, Newfoundland and how the local community’s display of compassion, kindness, and care continues to touch lives today; and giving a voice to some 7,000 people whose planes were grounded in the aftermath of the tragedy that closed American airspace for the first time in history.

The cast of 12 multi-role across many of the ‘plane people’ and citizens of Gander as we meet and hear the stories of those that were there at the start of a moment. All of the characters, while based on very real people, are constructed of a combination of memories, experiences, and stories of the people that were on the planes.

This show never fails to make me ride the entire emotions rollercoaster in the space of an hour and 40 minutes, and it truly amazes me what can be done with a mostly bare stage, 15(ish) mismatched chairs, two tables, and a plastic fish. I’m very lucky that this is now the third time I’ve had the opportunity to see this gorgeous show, but the first of the tour. It’s always very interesting to see how a show is going to be molded and adapted when it’s taken from the mighty West End to suddenly needing to fit inside one carry on!

What stood out to me the most was how beautifully and effortlessly each and every actor took a character that is not only based on a real person, but had also already been created for them, and so seamlessly made it completely their own. In a show as minimalist as this, every movement, word, facial expression counts and this cast gave me a huge amount that I’d either not seen, or never picked up on before.

The fabulous Captain Beverly Bass has been played by some true musical theatre icons including the likes of Rachel Tucker and Alice Fearn. Sara Poyzer was faced with some immense footsteps to follow in and my goodness did she live up to the challenge. Me And The Sky is Beverly’s solo song and arguably one of the most well known in the show. It’s a stunning ballad that explores her journey to becoming the first female American captain and, later that year, the first to captain an all-female crew. It relies entirely on actor storytelling ability to bring the words to life and it was a joy to watch Sara take on this number with an air of confidence and seemingly effortless manner. I really enjoyed seeing the slight similarities but also many differences in her performance and how she took the number and really made it her own.

Some other stand out performances came from Amanda Henderson, Natasha Barnes, Oliver Jacobson, and Jamal Zulfiqar (specifically in his role of Ali); not forgetting of course the sensational musicians that are the glue that binds this show together. The entire company very clearly have a tight connection which feeds heavily into this show and makes their relationships on stage really special to witness.

The night was a truly gorgeous celebration of a message that the world could really do with paying more attention to right now.

You can book tickets to see Come From Away at New Wimbledon Theatre, here.

Review by Rachel

**photo credit: Craig Sugden**