Theater Review: Broadway In Columbus Presents Warm, Moving ‘Come From Away’

Broadway in Columbus hit on the perfect level and kind of warmth amid bitterly cold winter with the Tony-winning paean to community Come From Away, written by Irene Sankoff and David Hein and directed by Christopher Ashley. 

In the immediate wake of 9/11, planes were rerouted to unexpected places and grounded for a few days. Come From Away shows us a slice of travelers grounded in the tiny Newfoundland town of Gander en route between Paris and Dallas.  

Sankoff and Hein zoom in on and exult in the tiny details of the day-to-day, giving us just enough of a taste of who the people on both sides are – the sterling ensemble shifts between frustrated, infuriated travelers and townspeople in a way that feels utterly organic – that we feel the disruption. Characters drawn in tiny strokes get wrenching gasps from the audience, turning on a dime, without feeling manipulated. 

The music exemplifies the burnished, plainspoken quality of the text, drawing on the area’s British and Irish folk music traditions. A tight, eight-piece band, led by music director/keyboardist Cameron Moncur, surges with fiddle, uilleann pipes, bouzouki, and bodhran, capturing the laid-back feel of an impromptu Ceilidh fused with jaw-dropping sophistication and subtlety. 

Songs also seem to burst right out of the text; sometimes I had to sit forward in my seat and wonder when people started singing, in a delightful way. This highlights the tension between the long-term, tightly knit community of Gander and the temporary, tenuous community people get from being on a plane. It also illuminates the magic of being around other people when we’re open to being with one another. 

That sense is reinforced by the fact that nine out of 15 songs are billed to “Company,” keeping everyone on stage and engaged, with crystalline harmonies. Reminding us that the collective gains power from the voices within but the real beauty happens together.  

That also highlights the handful of stunning solos and duets. Amelia Cormack’s pilot Beverley soars through the anthemic “Me and The Sky;” Chamblee Ferguson’s Nick and Christine Toy Johnson’s Diane’s glistening duet “Stop the World;” and Danielle K. Thomas’ Hannah’s heart-stopping grasp at hope “I Am Here;” supply key shading to stomping, frenetic group numbers like “Welcome to The Rock” and “Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere” I walked out humming to myself. 

Come From Away pulls off one of the greatest, most difficult things many of us come to art for; it reminds us how beautiful being human is. And it does it without falling into the trap of being too saccharine or too one-sided, without shying from direct emotion or overplaying its hand. 

Come From Away runs through February 13 at the Ohio Theatre, with performances at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. For tickets and more information, visit columbus.broadway.com.