Come From Away, the multi award-winning Best Musical across the globe, will tour to Mayflower Theatre from Tuesday 16 to Saturday 20 April 2024.
Come From Away 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.
Experience the joyous story and soaring music as spirited locals and global passengers come together and forge friendships that will stay with them forever.
The first female American Airlines captain, the quick-thinking town mayor, the mother of a New York firefighter and the eager local news reporter are among the many real characters caught at the start of the moment that changed the course of history, and whose stories became a true celebration of hope, humanity, and unity.
The international hit musical has celebrated record-breaking engagements in the West End, on Broadway, in Canada, throughout Australia, and on a 60-city North American Tour.
The Come From Away Creative team include Irene Sankoff and David Hein (Book, Music and Lyrics). Ontario-born Irene and Canadian, David, were in New York on 9/11, staying in a residence for international graduate students from all around the world.
“Those people took care of us, we had neighbours come over and help us,” David recalls. “We all shared music and got through it together. So when we first heard this story years later, when a friend mentioned it, we looked into it and realised this actually feels like our experience.”
On the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks, the writing partners and husband and wife couple travelled to Newfoundland to interview the townsfolk as well as the come from aways who had journeyed back there to mark the occasion. They found the locals to be just as welcoming as they are in the show.
“They would invite us into their house,” David smiles. “And say ‘Don’t be spending money on a hotel, just come stay with us’. They’d give us the keys to their house and then they’d leave and they’d say ‘Just feed the cats’.
“We came back with lifelong friends and a million stories to tell.
“There’s something important in having faith that we have more in common with people, and having that faith overcome the fear.
“Right now it feels important to tell stories about overcoming differences and coming together as an international community. It’s wonderful to take a story that has inspired you and share it with the world and see it inspire other people.”
Tickets for Come From Away (Tuesday 16 – Saturday 20 April 2024) are on sale at mayflower.org.uk or 02380 711811.
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