Come From Away

Come From Away (book, music and lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein) tells the uplifting true story of how a small Canadian town welcomed and cared for 6,579 airline passengers stranded on 9/11. When 38 planes were unexpectedly diverted there, the town of Gander saw its population nearly double, as residents opened their doors to an international group of strangers, providing food, shelter, and genuine friendship.

Usually performed by 12 actors, St Mary’s Players adapted it for a company of over 45 members. and it is impressive both in how you were able to achieve this and get approval to do so from the licence holder. This show is not an easy mission and firstly I want to say that this was one of the best performances I have seen from St Mary’s. There were so many lovely touches and some great performances and ensemble singing. However, knowing the show so well, I do feel we lost a little of the intimacy and the connection that we get when using just the 12 actors. I feel the joy, cleverness and main feature of this show is with the actors playing the multiple roles, just adding or removing small costume pieces and the stylised “chair’ography” Putting that aside, I appreciate with a large company the desire to include everyone and give lots of opportunities and St Mary’s managed this and produced a lovely entertaining performance. 

There was a static set made up of wooden panels on all three sides, with projections displayed on the back panel the full width of the stage. Steps ran along each side, and multiple wooden chairs helped create an intimate, almost studio theatre atmosphere. The action remained on the main stage, while the actors moved fluidly to and from the steps. The rear steps were used particularly effectively during the initial plane scene, which worked well, this all kept the main stage clear for the large cast.

The direction was slick and well thought out, with scene changes moving quickly and effectively keeping the pace up throughout. I do wonder if we needed as many projections as you had – some were really significant whereas others didn’t enhance the narrative and limited the lighting effect through the back wooden panel, which was so visually stunning and more than enough for most scenes. The lighting overall was excellent and really enhanced the production, particularly in terms of isolating performance areas. 

Managing the sound for such a large cast must have been a real challenge, especially with so many brief lines spread throughout. I don’t know how many radio microphones you were running but it was clearly a feat of management and control overall. As a result, some performers were mic’d while others weren’t, which meant parts of the dialogue were occasionally lost. While it’s understandable to want to give everyone opportunities, considering the number of microphones and channels available when allocating roles, may have helped with this,

I do not envy the role of the Musical Director in this show, using backing tracks in general gives little flexibility, and there were a lot of cues, and the tracks went at an incredible pace. Well done for drilling the cast so well on the timings and to the cast for maintaining that and for following you. The audience were desperate to clap and there were just a few opportunities to do so.

Choreography was fitting to the style and abilities, and again with so many on the stage, was managed well.  I feel we maybe missed an opportunity to incorporate a bit more using the Chairs within scene changes – the ‘Chair’ography’ being a key feature of this production.

Costumes and makeup were all in keeping and suitable for the 2001 time period.  Properties too were well-managed and appropriate.

I would now normally review individual performances, but there were so many listed that I can’t possibly mention everyone. Claude led the cast strongly and setting the scene. There were some lovely performances by Oz, Beulah, Bonnie and Diane, The two Kevin’s and Ali. A great gentle performance by Nick  which I really enjoyed. Captain Beverley Bass  gave a strong portrayal, with a fabulous accent, well maintained, and a lovely rendition of Me & The Sky.

A general note for everyone, with a really strong regional accent like this we need to make sure the diction is so clear as there were moments I couldn’t clearly hear what was being said. This could have also been due the pacing of the backing track and trying to rush a little to fit the tracks.

The extensive ensemble were a real feature in this production, and delivered some beautiful singing, and slick scene changes and multiple cameo roles. Great job, all of you. 

Well done to everyone involved, as I think I mentioned in your last show report, you never shy away from a challenge, and overall gave a very entertaining evening, which the audiences clearly enjoyed and appreciated.

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