The National Alliance for Musical Theatre in New York selected it as a showcase presentation in fall 2013, where a performance, also directed by Brian Hill, led to the show being optioned by Junkyard Dog Productions, the production company behind Memphis and First Date. In the meantime, Goodspeed Musicals of East Haddam, Connecticut, included the show in its workshop program.
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The full production, directed by Brian Hill, was an artistic success, but Rubinoff was unable to attract a Canadian producer for further development. The workshop was sufficiently successful that Rubinoff invited Sankoff and Hein to finish writing it for a full production at Sheridan in 2013, as part of the college's regular theatrical season. Rubinoff used their initial script to produce a 45-minute workshop version for the Canadian Music Theatre Project, part of the Sheridan College Music Theatre Performance Program, in 2012. The couple translated some stories directly to the musical while others were merged for story purposes. In 2011, Sankoff and Hein visited Gander on the tenth anniversary of the attacks to interview locals and returning passengers. After approaching various writing teams about the project, Rubinoff attracted Irene Sankoff and David Hein, whose work he knew from their 2009 musical My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding, which was a hit at the Toronto Fringe Festival and later picked up by Mirvish Productions. The show was conceived by Michael Rubinoff, a Toronto lawyer, theatre producer, and Associate Dean of Visual and Performing Arts at Sheridan College in Oakville. Īt the 71st Tony Awards in 2017, the musical was nominated for seven awards, including Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Book of a Musical and Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Jenn Colella, winning for Best Direction of a Musical for Christopher Ashley. On July 1, 2022, it was announced that the London production would close on January 7, 2023. The musical premiered at The Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, in December 2018 and then transferred to the Phoenix Theatre in the West End in February 2019. On June 8, 2022, it was announced that the Broadway production would close on October 2 after having played 25 previews and 1,670 regular performances. A live recording of the production was released on September 10, 2021, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the attacks. In October 2018 it became the longest-running Canadian musical in Broadway history, surpassing The Drowsy Chaperone's previous record of 674 performances, and has since joined the list of Broadway shows with 1,000 or more performances. It opened on Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on March 12, 2017, and became a critical and box office success, routinely playing to standing-room-only audiences even during previews. Īfter being workshopped in 2012 and first produced at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, in 2013, it went on to have record-breaking runs at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California, and the Seattle Repertory Theatre in 2015, at the Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., and the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto in 2016. The musical has been received by audiences and critics as a cathartic reminder of the capacity for human kindness in even the darkest of times and the triumph of humanity over hate. The characters in the musical are based on (and in most cases share the names of) actual Gander residents and stranded travelers they housed and fed. It is based on the events in the Newfoundland town of Gander during the week following the September 11 attacks, when 38 planes, carrying approximately 7,000 passengers, were ordered to land unexpectedly at Gander International Airport. Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in MusicĬome from Away is a Canadian musical, with book, music and lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein. Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical Come from Awayĭrama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical For the live film recording of the musical, see Come from Away (film).