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Newfoundland Meets Broadway on Opening Night of COME FROM AWAY!
May 17, 2024
COME FROM AWAY opened last night on Broadway, officially sharing the tale of a remarkable little town in Newfoundland with theatre goers. Come From Away features Petrina Bromley (Stratford's As You Like It); Geno Carr (The Old Globe's Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas); Jenn Colella(If/Then); Joel Hatch (Annie); Rodney Hicks (The Scottsboro Boys); Kendra Kassebaum (Wicked); Tony Award nominee Chad Kimball(Memphis); Lee MacDougall (Stratford's The Music Man); Caesar Samayoa(Sister Act); Q. Smith (Mary Poppins); Astrid Van Wieren (North American premiere of Mamma Mia!); Sharon Wheatley (Avenue Q); Josh Breckenridge (The Scottsboro Boys); Susan Dunstan (The Lion King US National Tour); Tamika Lawrence (If/Then) and Tony LePage (Rock of Ages).
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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
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One of the season's most eagerly awaited new musicals is Come From Away
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and we're here on opening night to celebrate with the company just minutes after the opening night curtain rang down
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You are here at the start of a moment on the edge of the world
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where the river meets the sea. Here on the edge of the Atlantic
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On an island in between And back to Broadway, my friend
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How does it feel? It's cold, but it's warm. You know what I mean
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What's it been like working on this show? For the last two years, it's been a labor of love for everybody involved
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It's a special show. It's a unique show. It's something that New York has never seen
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And so it's been an absolute pleasure and a labor of love
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There's only 12 of you up there, and you do everything. Yeah, it's crazy
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We're scared to death. Like all the time. You can't tell. No, well, that's good
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Yeah, we're up there passing hats, passing books, passing costume pieces to each other
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It's exhilarating. That's what I did. The original couple. Aren't they such
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They are the sweetest people. What's it like getting to know? them. Well, they were hilarious because
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they hadn't seen the show yet. This was back in La Jolla. Back in the Hoy. And so
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and I was worried that she was going to be really demure and I thought, oh God
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And so I saw her in the lobby before she saw the show and she goes, oh my, must be you
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And I was like, oh good. And then she proceeded to tell me the entire story
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of what happens at the screeching as if I'd never heard it before
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And I just said, you're going to like the show. And then she watched it. To meet the two of them here tonight is so
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wonderful. Is it all surreal for you? I mean, it's just so unlike
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anything you've probably ever done. It's funny. I was just saying I have
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closed a lot of Broadway shows. I've closed four of them. So, well, not Phantom. It's still running
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But anyway, but it's much more fun to be on the opening side. I'll take it
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It's opening night. How do you feel? My debut, I feel full
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of gratitude and love. When the lights went out, that tsunami of love
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And actually most, I would say actually, 99.9% of the shows we get that kind of
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searing reaction and it just, it fills you up. Like, I mean, as an actor you say you love applause
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but it's not just that. It's something about them having heard the story and saying, we heard the story
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I love it. You know, I'm sure everybody dreams about their Broadway debut
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of what it may be like, but to be given a musical so special like this, and it's only 12 of you up there
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and you are beyond quadruple threats. You all do everything. What's it like sharing the stage with them
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I have the most amazing castmates. We do a show about community
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and we've become this community, this actually family. You know, you have your days that are not great
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and everybody still just lifts you up and supports you, and, you know, they think you're a little ridiculous
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or they think you're, you know, whatever. Nobody takes themselves too seriously and we all a little bit older So at this point we are just full of gratitude to be here and tell this story It great Your musical staging is flawless I don
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know where Christopher's work ends and yours begins, but it's a ride you put us on from the very, very
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second. It's all character-driven. It's surreal. It's beautiful to watch. What has it been like
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for you working on this? This has been an incredible piece to work on. And Chris really had the vision of
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the simplicity and let the emotion of the story be the forefront. And so 12 chairs and a
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turntable and some amazing actors. And it's a playground because you get to be so creative
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How do you create all these locations and all these different, you know, places, a bus, a plane
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whatever, with these chairs. And that's been a challenge. And it's been so fun. It's been really fun
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And all 12 of you, you've created this incredible family really fast because you're on for the
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whole show. This is unlike any other. show out there right now. I mean, we are just a tight-knit tapestry. And if one piece falls out
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the whole thing falls apart. And so we're very lucky that everyone is so good at what they do
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And we all get to support each other, just like the show talks about. It's about taking care of each other. And that's what we do in the show
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Audiences love your show. It must be so great for you just to feel what they get back to you
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during the show. During the show, at the end of the show, it feels like I'm sort of, I'm like a rock star
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which I never would be. I mean, come on. You are, and you give those great glasses, too. I love you
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your glasses. Are they Ray bands? What do you wear? I don't even know, but they're awesome
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They'll be out this spring at the Bontan. You're a line, right? Right? Yeah, right. And that'd be amazing. Yeah, this is, the response
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is unlike anything I've ever experienced. It's so wonderful. What was it like working on this
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There are so many emotions in this show, the human spirit, the musicality. I mean
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you have hired a cast that does absolutely everything. Yeah, 12 people play
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7,000 people come from away, and 9,000 Gander, Newfoundlanders. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I've been with us for almost two years. And it's thrilling to watch them kind of turn on a dime, a new dialect, a new character, a new hat. Uh, and they bring so much kind of heart to it every night. As to the people who really live this story, people of Newfoundland are so generous. I think the two times I've gone to do research in gander, I gained five pounds each time because they're constantly feeding you. Uh, no, and just, it's, it's a great time in history to be telling a story about people being generous
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What's it been like for you two meeting the real people? It's been incredible
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The luckiest thing for us as actors is that we don't have to sort of make up all the backstory of what happened before
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We just asked them and they told us. We also, in the show, you know that my character, Nick and Diane, we go to the Dover Fault
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Well, we went to the Dover Fault with the real Nick and Diane. I know
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And they talked us through the whole, this is where we stopped. This is where we, it was amazing
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It's been thrilling to play and meet the real people. They're lovely. I just met them on the carpet
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They're so nice. I'm thrilled there together. And they're still married and they're very happily married
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And it never happens that you meet the real people you're playing. And I get to play two of the nicest men I've ever known in my life
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Claude and Durham, the mayors of Gander and Appleton, who are just bigger than life, big hearts
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give you the shirt off their back, just so friendly. And you know when they that good it a dream to play them You know if they could only sing and dance they be up there because they are larger than life They would give us a run for our money believe me They both been on stage with us in various places where we been and they won leave
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They're real characters, right? Welcome to Broadway, it's opening night. How do you feel
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Oh, I feel amazing. Seeing everyone running across the stage, the cast with all of the people who inspired the stories was just like beyond my wildest dreams
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It was just wonderful. It's amazing. I mean, we used to live here. We used to go see Amelia Asian shows as every week on Broadway at the Schoenfeld
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And now we have a show there. It's beyond our wildest dreams. It's incredible
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We've met all the people that are in your story. I've spent a lot of time with them on the right carpet
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What's it been like for you, like finding out about their stories and turning it into this glorious musical
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All right. Well, you know, they've sort of been in our heads for the past five or six years
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so we feel like we know them really well. And then we start talking to them, and I think they get a little creeped out because, you know
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they haven't been thinking about us for five years, but we've been thinking about them. These people are the most amazing people in the world
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They keep saying everything that they did after 9-11 was just what anyone should have done
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They just say it's ordinary. And it's so amazing to see over 1,000 people in a theater
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saying this isn't ordinary, this is extraordinary. You should be celebrated for the kindness and generosity that you did
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It's amazing. What has this whole experience been like for you with working on this musical
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Oh, my gosh. You know, this musical just tells the story of how good people are
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at their heart and at their core. and we need to hear that message so much right now
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And every stop along our journey to Broadway has shown an audience that is craving that message
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So it's unbelievable to finally bring it back here in New York. So for me, it's the epitome of an actor
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It's your dream, really, to be doing a story like this on a Broadway stage
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And having a lot of the original people who you play here tonight
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My God, our curtain call had all of our people that we portray come out on stage with us
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and we've all become really good friends with our people. We call them and text them
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and we tell them everything that we're going through. So to be able to share that final bow on Broadway
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with our original people is amazing. To have the people you play here in the house
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I mean, I met a lot of them on the red carpet beforehand. They have the loveliest people in the world
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It's amazing. And they all snuck backstage, right, when we were playing the music
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and we all grabbed them. There was not a dry eye backstage
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and it's just a joy sharing this experience with them and seeing them in the streets of New York
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just living their life and having a blast, you know? Do you have a favorite moment that stands out for you
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Like, I love that moment? There's a moment in the plane when we're all coming home
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and the lights change, and our vocals become hushed, and I could get emotional talking about it
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but it's one of the best moments. I don't mean to make you cry
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you took your bow tonight with everybody on that stage from all around the world that survived
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all of this. Do you remember what you were thinking? I just, first of all, I thought I was so blessed. And second of all, this is what I dreamed of
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as a little girl, that theater impacts people like this. And I'm just so ecstatic. I found
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it's the golden ticket, you know, I found that job that I feel so fulfilled
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What it like sharing the stage with The Eleven Other Extraordinary There such a cool experience to you able to see sit back every night and watch colleagues whom I deeply respect and admire soar Very rarely do we get to just kind of chill but there are
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moments when I get to sit down and watch somebody that I love dearly give me a master class in acting
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and it's an honor. It's incredible. What beautiful roles you've been given, what a gorgeous score
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you've been given to sing. What's it like working with the creative? This creative team is
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astounding. They work well together. They're smart, they're compassionate, they don't let
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us get away with anything. They know our tricks, they know the things that we're vulnerable and our weaknesses and our strengths and they help us through times
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that are difficult and they celebrate us to the things that we do well. I have never
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been so madly in love with a creative team and I've been in love with every creative team I've ever worked with, but this is an extraordinary bunch
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Do you have a favorite moment in the show that touches you the most? You know, I love prayer
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I love the prayer. It's when all faiths come together in one place and just, you know, there's just a beautiful community created in that moment
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And I think that's how the world, that's how the world should be. When you took your bow tonight, everybody on stage
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Do you remember what you were thinking? Oh, my God. I hope my parents liked it
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I know they loved it. But, yeah, I was like, oh, my God, my parents are here
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These are the people that paid for theater school. The people that said, do whatever you want to do in life, we'll support you
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And I just kept thinking about them. And I also thought about Hannah, the person that I portray because she was there tonight
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And what she was going through and how she was feeling. Do you have a favorite moment that stands out for you the most
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You know, for me, I think people would say the barbecue scene. But, you know, but me, it's the end when he says I was so much better
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you know when he asks his father how do you feel about being back
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and he says I'd rather be there you know because of the humanity
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and the generosity that was given you know it must be so wonderful
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to work on a brand new musical oh man well you know I'm no stranger to that
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so it really is but this time I feel there's a certain level of awareness
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that I have now at 42 years old versus 20 years ago
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with Lent, you know, that in this show, I've been with it since the developmental lab for three years
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So it's just, it's a dream country. Took your bow tonight with everybody on stage to remember what you were thinking
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Wow. Wow. Breathe and take it all in. Take it all in
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Don't miss a moment. That's what I was thinking. A kiss and a cod and whatever's in between
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To the ones who've left, you're never truly gone A candle's in the window and the candle's always on
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To the coves and the caves and the people from the plane Five days
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Nineteen, 19 animals and 7,000 strides When the sun is setting and it's darker than the floor
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If you're open for a harbor then you'll find an open door In the window from the water can whatever
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It's in the way To the ones who have come from away He said, Welcome to the Welcome to the Welcome to the Welcome to the Welcome to the Welcome to the Welcome to the Welcome
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Welcome to the Rock! Welcome to the Rock
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