Imagine a world in which 7,000 refugees from all over the globe appear on North American shores in a single day and instead of being turned away or treated like criminals for simply being displaced, they are welcomed with open arms, given food, clothing, and shelter.
This world is not so far away. It happened in Gander, Newfoundland on September 11, 2001, and the 2017 Tony Award-winning musical Come From Away, currently in production at Farmers Alley Theatre in Kalamazoo under Kathy Mulay’s thoughtful direction, tells the extraordinary true story with beauty, grace, and more humor than one might expect.
Though this heartwarming show works in larger spaces, and many may have encountered it through the 2021 AppleTV+ capture of the Broadway show, successfully staging it in the 100-seat black box space at Farmers Alley is quite a feat.
But this production team nails it. Scenic Designer Lee Buckholz summons the original Broadway design with makeshift trees framing either side of the rounded thrust stage but also uses turntables to allow for greater movement and wooden slats as the backdrop through which Lighting Designer Lanny Potts makes magic and heightens the story’s swath of emotion with colored light peeking through the slats and different colors projected onto them—as well as making use of spotlights and patterns, such as that of a chainlink fence in a scene in which the fearful “plane people” are being bussed and feel like prisoners.
Their work, with the addition of terrific, often funny props from Savannah Draper, allows the cast of 12 to each play several different roles, at least one islander and one plane person, and do so very much in so many different places—a plane, a coffee shop, a bus, a bar, a cliff, to name a few— just using a few tables and a dozen chairs, with every movement efficiently choreographed by Denene Mulay to make the finite space of the stage expand exponentially.
At times the present is juxtaposed with the past as they shift in time and space through memory and song with moving standout numbers such as “Me and the Sky” from Lottie Mae Prenevost and the goosebump-inducing heartbeat and frame of the show, “Welcome to the Rock”.
The score, with orchestrations by August Eriksmoen and arrangements by Ian Eisendrath, is shot through with a strong Celtic influence played by an excellent live orchestra music directed by Brendan Vincent.
The subtext of the Irish diaspora and its cultural traditions is present here (warm hospitality, rhythmic language, music and dance), as is the subtle fact that refugees are warmly welcomed with the implicit belief that if the roles were reversed, they would extend the same care.
The fine ensemble cast vividly embodies each character, including the town mayor (Curt Denham), a local police officer (Steve Brubaker), rookie reporter (Brooklyn Moore), head of the Gander Legion (Janine Chesak-Black), SPCA manager (Shannon Hill), a pilot (Lottie Mae Prenevost), a New Yorker hardened by systemic racism but softened by the genuine kindness of the Newfoundlanders (Christian Andrews), a mother of a NYC firefighter (Melrose Johnson, who reprises the role from the Saugatuck Center for the Arts production), an anxiety-ridden gay couple (Brandon Ruiter and Christopher C. Minor), an Egyptian master chef (through whom anti-Muslim bigotry is explored, also played by Christopher C. Minor), an awkward Brit (Michael Morrison) and Texan divorcee (Denene Mulay) who find solace in each other’s company.
Witnessing how this tense situation pressurizes each one of them to change over the course of five days, and then 10 years later, is a magnificent unfolding and a reminder of who we are, where we’ve been, how far we’ve come from away, how much we’ve lost, and how we could and should do better now.
We rely on stories to connect us, to share human experiences that may or may not be our own, and to teach us, again and again, what it means to be human. But rare and perhaps most lasting are the stories like this one that remind us of what we all too often forget: that above all, humans are kind, generous beyond measure, fundamentally driven by love, and when called, particularly in a crisis, are capable of compassion and gladly carrying each other.
Come From Away takes us on a roller coaster of emotion that appropriately makes us feel so much so deeply as only a live performance in such an intimate space can. It’s a love letter to humanity in crisis, and it invites us to rise to the love and care we witness on stage—a reflection of how we might be at our best in the worst of times.
Come From Away
Farmers Alley Theatre
Sep. 25-Oct. 26
https://www.farmersalleytheatre.com/shows/come-from-away
