On September 13, former Broadway and national tour cast members of Come From Away will reunite for a free, one-time-only concert in Lower Manhattan, steps from where the World Trade Center once stood. The story began when 38 international flights carrying thousands of stranded passengers were diverted to an airport near Gander, Newfoundland, after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all U.S. air traffic on September 11, 2001.
According to CBS News, the concert, titled Come From Away in Concert: Sounds of Remembrance, will be performed at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in Lower Manhattan. The 129,000-square-foot venue, known as PAC NYC, opened in September 2023 as the final public cultural component of the rebuilt World Trade Center master plan and sits directly adjacent to the 9/11 Memorial, according to New York YIMBY. According to PAC NYC, the venue is located at 251 Fulton Street at the corner of Greenwich Street on the World Trade Center campus. PAC NYC is part of a campus that combines historical reflection with cultural activity. Per TheaterMania, the free, 100-minute open-air event will feature cast members reuniting from both Broadway and the national tour.
How a Small Newfoundland Town Absorbed 7,000 Strangers
Gander residents provided aid and comfort to 7,000 stranded passengers and flight crew members, per the same CBS News account, housing them in community buildings and private homes after the passengers had been confined to their planes before finally being allowed off. The article describes the Newfoundland locals' response as a series of ordinary acts of kindness that would later become the basis of the musical.
The scale of the operation extended well beyond Gander alone. As part of Operation Yellow Ribbon, Transport Canada and air traffic control authorities managed the emergency diversion of 224 international civilian flights carrying over 33,000 passengers to Canadian airports, according to Transport Canada. Transport Canada records say the emergency system tracked 224 diverted planes carrying more than 33,000 displaced passengers. Gander itself took in 38 diverted airliners carrying approximately 7,000 passengers and crew members, temporarily swelling the town's population of roughly 10,000 people, per the American Airlines Newsroom, which reports that Gander residents provided support to the stranded travelers.
Why Gander Had Room for Dozens of Jumbo Jets
The town's capacity to land so many wide-body aircraft was no accident of scheduling. Gander International Airport earned the historical moniker Crossroads of the World during the 1940s and 1950s because transatlantic propeller airliners required a mandatory refueling stop in Newfoundland, according to Money.ca. Long-range jetliners eventually reduced the routine need for those stops.
Come From Away was written by Irene Sankoff and David Hein, who lived in New York City on September 11, 2001, according to CBS News. The pair researched Gander during its 10th-year reunion in 2011, interviewing both Gander residents and stranded passengers and drawing on that testimony for the show's book and lyrics. Hein discussed the community's generosity with CBS News. Sankoff said the show was created because the story deserved to be told.
From an Oral History to an International Franchise
The musical depicts 7,000 passengers and 9,000 Newfoundland locals through an ensemble cast of just 12 actors, combining two translation stories and consolidating some real people's accounts into single characters.
Come From Away premiered in Gander before opening in New York in March 2017. The original Broadway production ran for roughly 5 1/2 years, including a COVID-related break, according to Wikipedia. The show won Best Direction of a Musical for Christopher Ashley, who was the production's Tony-winning director; it also won three Drama Desk Awards, per CBS News. The show has since been produced around the world.
A live capture of the show, filmed after COVID lockdowns brought the show's band, cast and crew back to work, is available on Apple TV+.
A Real-Life Pilot Who Inspired a Signature Number
The show's musical number Me and the Sky was inspired by the real-life experience of Captain Beverley Bass, according to The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.
The show's story also emphasizes acts of kindness in memory of the victims.
Regional Stages Join the Anniversary Moment
The 25th anniversary has also driven a wave of regional productions across the country. Moonlight Amphitheatre in Vista staged the musical as a homecoming to San Diego County, where the show originally premiered at La Jolla Playhouse in 2015, while Orlando Shakes mounted its own Central Florida run through late September. Whether performed on a regional stage or steps from Ground Zero itself, CBS News describes Come From Away fundamentally as a story about communities responding to tragedy — one that continues to resonate with both younger and older audiences, and that teachers use to help explain the September 11 attacks to students who never lived through them.
