Come From Away; A Review

This week, the textbook reading touched on theatre critics and reviews. The textbook had a negative view of those who write critiques and reviews without having the ‘proper expertise.’ I feel like the judgement was not warranted. If I am looking for a review of a play I am interested in seeing, I am more likely to seek out the review of an everyday person. I feel I relate more to the average blogger than I do to a theatre critic. The average blogger is also most likely looking out for entertainment value, whereas the critic is working to question deeper meaning and analysis of the production. As the textbook pointed out, most theatre critics hated Cats, yet it remains a popular musical to this day. In saying all this, this week, I will review a play, just to spite the textbook. 

I noticed this week in the Apple+ promos on my Apple TV that Come From Away was available to watch. Now I am not sure whether it is free for everyone to watch or if I still have some sort of free trial going on, but I recommend you watch it! With it being 20 years since 9/11 occurred, I felt compelled to watch this story unfold. I had heard about Come From Away during my EDRA 101 class, but I had never looked into it. So without further ado, here is my review!

Starting off, I enjoyed the set design and the utilization of the chairs to convey different spaces. Chairs took a different formation to signify planes, buses, schools, bars, and town coffee shops. These formations made each location easily recognizable to audiences and helped the actors transition to different characters. I also was impressed by the use of the turntable. Does every broadway musical require a turntable? Is this something I was not aware of? Because the only two musicals I’ve seen that are filmed Broadway productions have used turntables. I also thought the use of the opening upstage to convey the cargo hold of the plane was very creative. I grew up participating in drama productions with abstract staging, so I have a soft spot for using chairs and such things to create different scenes. 

The casting in this production was very strong. Each cast member played multiple parts, having small costume changes to differentiate the characters. I thought that Jenn Colella was brilliant as the captain and hilarious as the school teacher. Her solo song about becoming a pilot was so moving. Tony LePage as Kevin was outstanding; I loved his charm and willingness to become a Newfoundlander. Finally, Caesar Samayoa moved me with his performance of Ali. My heart went out to Ali as he was discriminated against because of his ethnicity following the 9/11 attacks. My heart broke as Ali talked about being strip-searched before boarding the plane to leave Newfoundland. Caesar gave an outstanding and moving performance for all his characters, but none will ever measure up to Ali.

Overall, I thought that this was a must-see performance! For such a heavy and tragic backstory for the events of the performance, there were also many moments of humour. Although I found the music didn’t amaze me, I also did not hate it. It was fascinating to see this Canadian story portrayed on stage and to learn more about it in general. I have always heard about the Canadian involvement in humanitarian efforts during 9/11, but I had never learned more than that. This musical provided a great jumping-off point for more research about the events in days after 9/11 in Newfoundland.