Moonlight Stage Productions is closing out its 45th anniversary season with a homecoming of sorts: the San Diego regional premiere of “Come From Away,” the musical that was born just up the coast at La Jolla Playhouse back in 2015. The show opens Wednesday at Vista's Moonlight Amphitheatre and runs through Sept. 26, marking the first time the production has returned to San Diego County as a regional staging since its world premiere.
The musical, from writers Irene Sankoff and David Hein, tells the story of Gander, Newfoundland, a Canadian town of about 9,000 people that took in nearly 7,000 airline passengers after U.S. airspace shut down on Sept. 11, 2001, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. Gander citizens provided food, housing, clothing, blankets and basic necessities free of charge to the stranded travelers, part of what Hoodline has previously reported was Operation Yellow Ribbon, which diverted 38 commercial airliners carrying nearly 6,700 passengers and crew to Gander International Airport and temporarily doubled the town's population.
Directing Moonlight's production is Geno Carr, a Broadway cast member and local theater artist who starred in both the La Jolla Playhouse world premiere and the Broadway premiere of “Come From Away,” per the Union-Tribune. Carr played Gander municipal police officer Oz Fudge and other characters in the show more than 1,200 times across its run at La Jolla Playhouse, Broadway, the national tour, and productions in Toronto and Washington, D.C., according to SDSU's School of Theatre, Television, and Film. He now teaches as an adjunct faculty member at Grossmont College in San Diego County.
A Director Returns to a Show He Knows by Heart
Carr said the Moonlight production aims to respect and tell the stories of Gander's community, and he has described the staging as part of the musical's ongoing artistic evolution, the Union-Tribune reports. The Moonlight production covers the orchestra pit and brings the action downstage, closer to the audience, adapting a show built for Broadway's Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre to the open-air scale of Moonlight Amphitheatre.
That adaptation matters because “Come From Away” was designed as a lean, ensemble-driven piece: just 12 actors rapidly shifting between dozens of real-life characters across 100 continuous minutes without an intermission, according to background from The Shubert Organization. When the show made its Broadway premiere in March 2017, 11 of the 12 principal cast members from the 2015 La Jolla Playhouse world premiere kept their roles, a level of ensemble retention the organization calls exceptional for a Broadway transfer.
Sharing the stage — and life — with Carr is actress Nancy Snow Carr, who plays Bonnie Harris, head of the Gander and area SPCA, in the Moonlight cast. The couple, who are married in real life, have previously co-starred in local productions at Lamb's Players Theatre, The Old Globe and Cygnet Theatre, according to KPBS.
From La Jolla Stage to Broadway Record-Holder
“Come From Away” swept the 2015 Craig Noel Awards presented by the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle following its La Jolla Playhouse world premiere, winning six awards including Outstanding New Musical, Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Original Score, per American Theatre. The world premiere was directed by Christopher Ashley, who went on to win a Tony Award for directing the show on Broadway. The musical earned seven Tony nominations overall and ran for nearly 1,700 performances on Broadway before closing at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on Oct. 2, 2022, becoming the longest-running show in that theater's 105-year history and the 49th longest-running production in Broadway history, according to reporting cited in the dossier's historical background.
The show's reach has extended well beyond Broadway. In addition to its 2017 Tony for Best Direction, “Come From Away” won four Laurence Olivier Awards in 2019, including Best New Musical, and was released as a filmed live stage production globally on Apple TV+ in September 2021. San Diego audiences also caught the musical when its national tour stopped at the San Diego Civic Theatre in 2022.
A Sept. 11 Tribute Night at Moonlight
Come From Away's run at Moonlight includes a performance on Sept. 11, 2026, which marks 25 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Vista-area first responders are invited to be honored during that performance, tying the production directly to the anniversary it dramatizes.
The Moonlight production features minimal scenery and an onstage band performing a Celtic folk rock-inspired score, staying true to the stripped-down staging style that defined the musical from its earliest days. Performances run at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays at Moonlight Amphitheatre, located at Brengle Terrace Park, 1200 Vale Terrace Drive in Vista, with tickets priced between $48 and $77.
An Outdoor Venue Built From Volunteer Roots
Moonlight Amphitheatre itself has a history rooted in local volunteer effort. The venue began in 1976 as a basic outdoor stage built by community volunteers and was officially named in 1990, eventually growing into the modern 2,000-seat outdoor venue it is today, now operated by the City of Vista's Cultural Arts Division, according to the North County Pipeline. The amphitheatre holds 908 fixed stadium seats plus lawn seating for 1,092, and according to the City of Vista, attendees are permitted to bring open-air picnic suppers starting 90 minutes before showtime, with lawn chairs provided to lawn ticket holders upon entry.
According to the National Endowment for the Arts, the agency annually awards an average of over 2,300 grants and cooperative agreements exceeding $117 million, funding the arts in all 50 states and six U.S. territories.
“Come From Away” closes out Moonlight Stage Productions' five-show 45th anniversary season, which also included regional premieres of “The Cher Show” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” For a musical that first found its footing on a San Diego County stage more than a decade ago, its return to Vista brings the story full circle — this time under the open sky, just steps from where so many of its original cast members once got their start.
