Come From Away honors what’s lost, commemorates what’s found

Before you can call yourself an honorary Newfoundlander, there are a few things you have to do: take a shot of rum, kiss a cod and let someone yell a few choice words in your face.

Once the “screeched in” ritual is complete, you’re officially part of the Gander family.

“Welcome to the Rock” launches Come From Away, the Tony Award-winning musical playing at Syracuse Stage through Sunday.

With a 12-member cast and live musical accompaniment, the production brings Newfoundland hospitality to Central New York through traditional folk music, quick-witted humor and distinctive characters.

Written by Canadians Irene Sankoff and David Hein, the musical recounts how the small town of Gander, Newfoundland, welcomed thousands of stranded airline passengers after Sept. 11, 2001. Sankoff and Hein built the show from interviews with Gander residents and the passengers who were stranded there.

On Sept. 11, 38 planes were diverted to Gander International Airport, leaving nearly 7,000 passengers in a town of roughly 9,000 residents. For five days, the small town on the edge of the Atlantic swelled as travelers waited, unsure when they could leave.

Newfoundlanders opened their homes, schools and community spaces, providing food, clothing, medicine and places to sleep. They organized a phone system so passengers could call their loved ones.

For Michael Rubinoff, the originating Canadian producer, humanity was the story’s defining feature from the start.

Rubinoff, then a lawyer in Toronto, became interested in the story after hearing former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien commemorate Gander during 9/11. He researched what had happened and saw a chance to share a Canadian story of community and kindness.

“I think people in those early days couldn’t get past this belief that it was a 9/11 musical and what that meant,” Rubinoff said.

After facing criticism and rejections from several writers, Rubinoff approached Sankoff and Hein, who agreed to write the musical. Bringing the story to the stage, Rubinoff said, made him “so proud to be a Canadian.”

Marcia Hughes, who plays Gander matriach Beulah in the Syracuse Stage production, said the town’s response was immediate. For Hughes, doing the musical justice means honoring the people of Gander and the instinctive generosity they showed to thousands of strangers.

“They didn’t wait a second,” Hughes said. “They cared for everybody, and those planes included people from everywhere, and they cared for all of them without question, without judgment, without hesitation.”

That spirit of collective care carries through the production itself. Actors set the scenes by hand, moving chairs to turn the stage from the inside of a stranded plane into a rowdy Gander pub. Cast members play multiple characters, shifting from airline passengers to Newfoundlanders in flannel shirts, yellow raincoats and fisherman’s hats, complete with the Irish-influenced Newfoundland accent.

Rather than relying on elaborate sets, the production lets its ensemble and music establish a sense of place. The simple stage keeps the focus on the stories, as the cast moves from humor to the uncertainty passengers faced far from home.

“We’re allowing the audience to take the journey with us and learn the story by the storytelling,” Hughes said.

Since its debut, Come From Away has reached international audiences, which Rubinoff said is part of the musical’s significance.

“Whether it’s performed in English or Spanish or Japanese or Korean or Dutch, it’s amazing that the message has transcended language and has really connected with people, and I think what makes me most proud,” Rubinoff said.

Rubinoff continues to produce a summer run of the musical in Gander, which recently finished its fourth season, preserving what he calls stories of “great humanity and kindness.”

Hughes said sharing the story with Syracuse audiences, particularly younger ones, is central to the production’s purpose. The cast mirrors the story itself: The performers traveled to a new city to tell of strangers far from home, and a community they never expected to meet has welcomed them.

“We all come from away,” Hughes said. “We all are come from awayers right now, being welcomed into this community.”