For any Calgarian who was present in the city in 2001, the striking images of airline tails peaking over Deerfoot Trail as they lay parked following 9/11 sticks to the mind’s eye to this day.

Doubly so for the people of Gander, Newfoundland, who found their small town of 10,000 inundated with commercial and military aircraft following a North American-wide grounding of flights.

Nearly 7,000 travellers and airline staff converged on the runways of the northern Newfoundland airport, and waiting for them was the warm welcome of locals for those who had come from away.

That story became an award-winning 2017 Broadway show that has since been translated into a half-dozen languages and presented worldwide. Come this September it’s hitting a Calgary stage through Broadway Across Canada.

“This was a story that we were inspired by after 9/11 when, when we had been in New York on 9/11 and my cousin had been in the towers before fortunately they escaped. It was a story that resonated with us, and that we’re proud of as Canadians,” said David Hein, who wrote the book, music, and lyrics for the musical, with his wife Irene Sankoff.

“What’s been interesting for us is it started as a show about these people that we fell in love with, and the story that we fell in love with out of Newfoundland, and now that we’ve seen it go around the world… it’s really more of a 9/12 story. It’s about how we respond to tragedies.”

Come from away, leave as family

In writing the production, Hein and Sankoff travelled to Gander to listen to the stories of the real people who opened their homes to strangers—and did so again for the couple.

“It was so amazing to be there. We had done some research coming in, but we really just started interviewing the minute we landed. We talked to the flight attendants, we talked to the person who booked us into our hotel, we talked to everyone we possibly could, and every single person had just hundreds of stories, and each one was better than the next one,” Hein said.

“We saw the same generosity that the come-from-aways did a decade earlier. They fed us, they made us laugh, they tried to give us cars and we were like, ‘no, we can’t take your car. We’re fine.’ But it was just amazing, and those people have become lifelong friends, and Gander, has become a second home for us.”

Hein said Gander reminded him of growing up on the prairies in Regina and Saskatoon, visiting his family in Medicine Hat, and touring Alberta as a singer-songwriter.

“One of the reasons the airport was built there, was because it’s really flat. So, that alone reminded me of the prairies. But more than that, it was the people I remember growing up. We didn’t lock our door, and there was a real sense of kindness—and certainly Newfoundland has this connection with sending folks out to work in Alberta,” he said.

“I think it’s more than that. There’s something about the story that feels, you know, Canadian. But specifically East Coast and prairies, definitely. So I’m really proud to bring it home to the prairies and share this.”

He said that travelling to Gander now is like a family reunion, even more so with the thousands of people who flock to the town itself as a result of having seen the show during its growth in popularity worldwide.

“What’s really wonderful these days is that the taxis and the hotels and the restaurants are all filled with people who have seen the show around the world, and are coming to Gander to live the most immersive theatre experience possible, actually being in it and getting taken to the Legion and getting screeched in, and meeting the characters and seeing where it really happened,” Hein said.

Relevance continues in face of reasons to build community

The show itself, he said, has remained relevant despite 9/11 now drawing on a quarter-century milestone.

“I remember when we were trying out the show in Seattle, and it was during the Paris attacks, and we talked about whether we should say something at the start of the show, and at a certain point, we decided we should just let the show speak for itself,” said Hein.

“It really was about people coming together in a time of crisis, and at those moments humans have the potential to be divided and attack each other, or to come together and realize that actually our differences are very few. And, you know, on 9/11 and in moments like this, there’s so many people who wanted to help and who needed help.”

The pandemic and other current event have the potential to help people to realize that for every person that wants to attack others, there are actually “far more people who want to help and who need help these days,” Hein said.

That message has resonated with audiences, and with critics, being nominated for seven Tony awards and winning one for Best Direction of a Musical in 2017, along with four Olivier Awards, five Outer Critics Circle Awards, and dozens of other awards across North America and internationally.

Christopher Ashley, who directed that original Broadway run that won the show a Tony, was said by Charles McNulty of the Los Angeles Times to have created a production that “lets the simple goodness of ordinary people outshine sensational evil.”

That’s exactly the pitch that Hein makes for people who have yet to experience the musical on stage.

“For every story that brings a tear to your eye, mostly because it’s so good and seeing people be good to one another, that’s why people come,” he said.

“But then the Newfoundlanders are so funny, and because there is much laughter in our show and at the end, it’s just joyous. We bring you to Newfoundland to a kitchen party, and I never get tired of going.”

Come From Away is playing at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium from Sept. 17 through 22. Tickets are on sale at calgary.broadway.com/shows/comefromaway.