Reasons You Need to See Come From Away

I'm sure you've all heard of Come From Away by now! If not then you've probably been living under a rock! Come From Away tells the story of the town of Gander on 9/11. When 38 planes landed in the town of Gander due to the closing of the American air space, the population of Gander doubled. The people of Gander took the Come From Aways into their homes, fed them and clothed them. I never thought that a show about 9/11 could be so uplifting! And when I saw it in February this year I was shown how uplifting and joyous this musical was! It was genuinely the best musical I has ever seen (and I'd seen Hamilton less than 24 hours before). I have written a list of the reasons why you NEED to see Come From Away! 

In a world where there is so much sadness and anger, Come From Away spreads joy and hope. 

Come From Away shows than when something awful happens, in this case it was 9/11, the best can come out in people. The people of Gander realised that the plane people were in need of love and compassion and they gave it. In a world where bad things are happening, Come From Away shows that we should be more kind because it really can truly make a difference to the lives of people. 

It's an ensemble piece. 

Not one member of the cast is anymore or less important than the other. This is something I find really important Come From Away because each story is told with equal value. This was also seen at the Olivier Awards in 2019 when none of the actors or actresses in the show were nominated in the best leading actor or actress category. Any of the individual cast members that were nominated were nominated in the best supporting category. This feels right because just from seeing the show, you can see that all of the cast really o support each other.

There are moments when you laugh.

Even though 9/11 was one of the most tragic events of our time, there are moments of the show where I was really genuinely belly laughing. Before I had seen the show, I had heard people saying that they laughed at it. And to be honest I thought 'how could anyone find a show about 9/11 funny?'. But now, I would think that anyone who didn't laugh the Come From Away had something wrong with them! From Beulah's jokes to Bob trying to find barbeques and the surgeons...if you've seen the show then you know exactly what I mean!!! I left the show with a whole mix of emotions. Which takes me nicely into my next point.

There's also moments when you really cry.

Hannah's song 'I am here' is a moment when I really truly broke. I feel like I was doing okay, up until the point when Bonnie said goodbye to the cocker spaniel she was looking after but from then until the end I was a sobbing mess. I think that the fact that the show makes you cry as much as it makes you laugh is good because you don't leave feeling down. I genuinely left feeling uplifted, despite the fact that I had cried for most of it!! Thinking back to when I sae it, it was mostly the animals parts that made cry. The Bonobo Chimp...:(

The applause!

I didn't realise this until after I'd seen the show and I think this is because you get so lost in the show you don't even realise but, during the show there are only 2 places where you can clap. The first one is after the surgeons and I think (but don't hold me to it) the second one is after 'Screech in'. This is a very clever addition to the show by the writers to ensure continuity of the piece. There is no interval for the same reason. So for 1 hour 40 mins, songs have ended and you have wanted nothing more than to jump to your feet and cheer but you can't because it's always straight onto the next thing. This means that by the end of the show you are absolutely bursting to jump to your feet and cheer and oh boy does the audience do exactly that! Almost immediately as soon as

the show ended, there was a standing ovation. I cry at the end of most shows when people are on their feet cheering and clapping (something about a standing ovation just gets me)! But this was a whole other level of s
tanding ovation!

I hope they if you haven't already seen Come From Away then you get the chance to. I think that if more people saw it then more people will have an understanding of kindness and put more kindness out into the world.