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大卫·摩根 撰稿
2001年9月11日恐怖袭击事件中最打动人心的故事之一——尽管当日发生了骇人听闻的事件，却仍能让人重拾对人性的信心——讲述的是加拿大一个小镇的居民，对数千名滞留无措的旅客伸出援手的慷慨之举。
袭击发生后，美国联邦航空管理局暂停了所有空中交通，迫使38架飞往美国的国际航班降落在纽芬兰甘德小镇附近的机场。当地居民紧急行动起来，为七千名乘客和机组人员提供援助与慰藉，其中许多人正急切地等待着家乡的消息。当地居民个体与集体的善举，成为了广受好评的音乐剧《来自远方》的创作原型。
《来自远方》百老汇原版制作剧照。马修·墨菲 摄，《来自远方》
这部由艾琳·桑科夫和大卫·海因夫妇共同创作剧本、音乐与歌词的音乐剧，由12名演员组成的演员阵容饰演所有角色——从被困在岛上的“机上旅客”，到接纳他们的纽芬兰当地人。桑科夫与海因于2011年甘德十周年重聚活动期间到访当地，展开了调研工作。该剧的剧本和歌词均取材于他们的采访内容，配乐融合了民谣风格，于2017年3月在纽约首演，并随后斩获三项戏剧桌奖（包括杰出音乐剧和杰出音乐剧剧本）以及一项托尼奖（最佳导演）。它在百老汇上演了五年半（因新冠疫情暂停演出），此后在全球各地被不断搬上舞台。目前，由百老汇原班卡司录制的现场版剧集已在Apple TV+上线。
（生于安大略省的）桑科夫和（生于萨斯喀彻温省的）海因接受了《CBS星期日早晨》的采访，谈及这部剧的创作起源，以及它对甘德镇居民产生的影响。
创作初衷
2017年在纽约市的艾琳·桑科夫与大卫·海因。沃尔特·麦克布莱德/盖蒂图片社 摄
2001年9月11日，桑科夫和海因正居住在纽约市的一所国际学生公寓里。他们回忆称，当时曼哈顿被倒塌的世贸中心尘埃笼罩，他们并未知晓甘德镇发生的一切：“我们所有邻居都走出来照顾我们，”海因说道，“那里有很多音乐人，他们演奏音乐，我们一起聚餐，他们还会来查看我们的情况。我的表亲当时在双塔里，但幸运地逃了出来，她当时在一楼。所以我们所有人都在一起等待消息，这个社区，这个国际化的社区，团结起来互相照料。
“当时，有一位居民真的为我们那天接收了飞机而向我们道谢，但我们当时根本不知道他在说什么。但后来，当我们听说了甘德镇发生的故事时，它引起了我们的共鸣，因为我们不仅亲眼目睹了身边社区展现出的善意，还有9月12日及之后几天里纽约市民所表现出的 kindness——献血、互相扶持——还有戏剧界同仁们也是如此。”
在采访甘德镇居民和乘客时，你们最初的创作意图是什么？或者说，当时并没有明确的意图？
桑科夫：“嗯，我们当时受委托为奥克维尔的谢里丹学院的全新加拿大音乐剧项目创作一部音乐剧。我记得当时很惶恐，就觉得，有这么多故事，这可不能做成那种千篇一律的音乐剧。我们该怎么做呢？我想这或许会像《拉勒米计划》那样的戏剧。”
海因：“但我是听着纽芬兰音乐长大的，我们在那里采访的每个人都会拿出乐器，说起他们成长过程中听过的音乐。音乐是纽芬兰人度过艰难时刻的方式。那里的冬天格外难熬，他们会齐聚厨房派对，演奏音乐、讲述故事，我们知道他们也曾在9·11事件发生时款待了所有滞留的人。这是一个关于音乐与艺术，同时也是关于慷慨的非凡故事。”
桑科夫：“那是一场为9·11幸存者和家属举办的慈善音乐会，所以当音乐响起的那一刻，我转头对大卫说，‘我的天，你说得对，这就是一部音乐剧。’
“我们刚告诉人们我们想做什么，他们就迫不及待地想和我们聊聊。他们希望这个故事被讲述出来。当时我们只是为一所大学做这个项目，但他们还是会坐两小时火车专程赶来和我们当面交谈，说，‘你们根本无法想象这些人有多聪明、多慷慨、多善良，这个故事值得被讲述出来。’而这真正激励了我们：好吧，这些亲身经历过这件事的人，他们如此迫切地想要这个故事被讲述出来。我们必须这么做。我们必须把它讲出来。”
将人们的证词作为剧本和歌词，这让人联想到《歌舞线上》和《斯塔兹·特克尔的工作》。在将对甘德镇居民和旅客的采访内容转化为剧本和歌曲时，你们参考了哪些范本？
海因：“我们确实讨论过《歌舞线上》，我记得我们做了很多直接对话和证词的部分，还有艾琳小时候看《歌舞线上》的回忆。我们显然也参考了《拉勒米项目》，因为它讲述的是采访者进入一个经历过悲剧的社区，并在其中寻找希望的故事。《拜访森林》也是一个重要的参考范本，它采用群像叙事，讲述一个群体经历一场变故后彻底改变的故事。《曾经》让我们知道，百老汇的音乐剧也可以使用这样的音乐语言。
桑科夫：“《彼得与星之船》则教会我们如何将直接对话融入场景，还有那种从零开始创造事物的戏剧表现力，这是非常典型的加拿大式创作手法。但你知道，我们当时只是不确定这在百老汇是否行得通。而且说实话，我们当时根本没打算进军百老汇。”
海因：“我们当时以为加拿大的高中可能会把这部剧作为加拿大高中项目的指定剧目来排演。”
桑科夫：“好吧，我在9·11事件后待在纽约，当时就觉得，没人愿意看这个。美国人不会想看这个的。但我又想，好吧，这个故事值得被讲述。亲身经历过这件事的人们都希望这个故事被讲出来，所以哪怕我们只是为他们做这件事，我们也要做下去。我们必须坚持下去，看看会发生什么，你知道吗？而且意识到我们没打算进军百老汇，这让我们感觉很放松。这不会是一部常规的音乐剧。我们只是按照最适合这个故事的方式来创作，这意味着音乐将推动我们进入类似蒙太奇的场景，而且没有一个主角。说真的，创作过程非常有趣。在开发这部剧的过程中，这些角色仿佛就在我们脑海里生活着。我记得四五年后回到甘德镇，和奥兹、邦妮还有克劳德聊天，就像和老朋友聊天一样，因为他们已经在我们脑海里待了四五年了。但你知道，他们早就忘了我们曾去采访过他们，所以他们一开始还反应不过来，‘你们为什么会在这里？还有这些百老汇制作人？这到底是怎么回事？’我想这是一段非常独特的旅程，不像很多剧那样直接走向百老汇。”
你们是否将真实人物合并成了单个角色？
海因：“我们常说，我们要讲述的是滞留在停机坪上的七千名乘客和纽芬兰当地九千名居民的故事，也就是总共一万六千个故事，所以为了让观众能清晰理解，我们遇到了很多叫黛安的女性和很多叫凯文的男性，因此我们不得不合并一些故事。”
这就是你们设置两个凯文角色的原因吗？
海因：“事实上真的有两个凯文！还有一名消防员的儿子，汉娜的儿子，也叫凯文，我们有时候会简称他为凯夫。我想我们只在一处提到过他的名字。还有一些故事共享了信仰、食物或翻译这类主题。我们发现了两个翻译相关的故事，于是将它们结合在了一起。但我们一直希望亲身经历过这个故事的人们，以及世界各地看到这份善意的机上旅客们，都会说‘这确实是当时发生的事情’。所以我们做出的小幅改动，始终都是为了更清晰地展现那些真实发生过的宏大故事。”
桑科夫：“哪怕是像布里斯托尔船长，或者医生打扫浴室这类细节：我们当时和甘德学院的五位女老师坐在一起，她们是我们最早采访的对象，所以她们完全是随性地互相聊天，然后她们就说，‘哦，还记得那些医生吗？最有学识的人都在打扫厕所’，她们说起这件事时格外兴奋，还有一位老师对船长的故事也同样激动。好吧，那这个场景会是什么样呢？我们来加点趣味性。贝斯船长，她的故事就是这样的。《我和天空》这首歌几乎完全是原话转录。”
海因：“没错，我们采访了她四个小时，当时都准备好做‘贝斯船长：音乐剧’了。”
桑科夫：“但这个角色可能是不同船长的结合体。所以哪怕是她这样的角色，所有事情也都是真实发生过的。可能发生在别人身上，可能细节略有不同，但我们没有夸大那些善意和事件。更多的是，好吧，[尼克和黛安]在巴士上接吻，而不是在飞机上。像这样的细节改动就是我们做的全部，绝不是为了让人物形象更完美。甚至可以说，我们不得不有所保留，因为我们知道人们根本不会相信这些事，你知道吗？”
善意的勇气
这部剧非常关注一线救援人员，但他们并没有将其视为自己的工作或使命；剧中只是将其描绘为当地人面对紧急情况时的常识性反应。机上旅客是否意识到这种反应有多不寻常？而甘德镇的当地人又是怎么看的？
海因：“没错。机上旅客告诉我们，这种应对方式有多非凡；而纽芬兰的当地人则告诉我们，这有多平常。他们说，‘这只是任何人都会做的事。’而令人惊叹的是，一次又一次，来自世界各地的人们都说，‘这太了不起了。’它重塑了人们对人性的信心，让人们想起世界上仍有美好存在，而这正是滞留旅客们亲眼所见的。”
桑科夫：“对他们来说，这只是理所当然的事。就像克劳德说的，我们本可能迎来七千名恐惧、孤独、愤怒，然后他又补充了‘饿怒’的旅客，坐在镇子边缘，但相反，只要用尊重和人性对待他们，我们就会交到七千个朋友。而最终当他们离开时，就多了七千个新的家人。所以，我的意思是，对他们来说，‘好吧，下飞机吧，我们把你们安排到社区大楼里’，这再自然不过了。他们走下飞机，经过镇上大多是志愿者的检疫流程，拿到一盒果汁、一个三明治，坐上巴士，被送到不同的社区大楼。然后他们会说，‘哦，你怀孕八个月了？你已经八十七岁了？你不舒服？来我家吧。’你想想，这确实合乎情理。而他们现在还有点不理解，‘其他人到底怎么了，这明明就是理所当然的事？’”
我们在自然灾害中也曾见过这样的善意与同情，比如飓风和野火；社区都会伸出援手。但这次事件多了一层创伤维度：人们不知道正在发生什么，不知道自己会面临什么，不知道自己将被带往何处，等等。所以这种紧张感与慷慨并存，一方面人们想要伸出援手，另一方面有人担心对方会拿走自己的钱包。这种张力让人物形象更具人情味，这也是双方必须跨越的沟通桥梁。
海因：“我认为双方都充满了未知。人们下飞机时，在飞机上被关了28小时后，他们还没看到任何袭击的画面，直到最终来到一个摆放着电视的大厅。但另一方面，当地居民也刚得知消息，被告知任何一架飞机都可能有炸弹威胁，但仍有人爬进货舱去照顾动物，他们在不了解这些陌生人身份的情况下，就邀请他们到自己家里。这是一种我们如今很少看到、也很少谈论的勇气。这就是善意的勇气。”
如今已经过去25年了。许多观众甚至在事件发生时还未出生。但这部剧依然取得了成功。它的意义不仅限于亲身经历过、记得这件事、当时体验过这一切的人们。你如何理解年轻观众即使没有亲身经历过，也能从这个故事中有所收获？
海因：“我想我们也很惊讶，这部剧能同时引起年轻人和老年人的共鸣，哪怕那些在9·11事件发生时还未出生的人。我们见过穿着贝弗利·贝斯船长主题T恤的孩子。一位年轻的穆斯林女性说，这部剧帮助她理解了世界在那一天为何改变，以及当时到底发生了什么。它帮助他们为这个事件建立了背景认知。而且这成为了教师们向学生解释9·11事件的安全方式，他们可以先从‘当时有人伸出援手’说起。而不幸的是，这也延伸到了世界各地的悲剧事件中。
“人们能够借用这个故事说，这就是你应对悲剧的方式，要始终关注幕后伸出援手的人，因为他们远比试图伤害他人的人要多得多。所以，我认为当孩子们看到黑暗时刻时，这部剧能让他们想起我们可以这样回应。”
我了解到受访对象可以审核对他们角色的塑造。有没有什么内容是他们反对的——不一定是因为觉得不对，而是因为他们想要保持隐私？
海因：“我们非常幸运，在十周年纪念首次到访甘德镇时，很多人都还记得那些故事，那些愿意讲述、分享故事的人都站出来和我们交谈。显然，他们当时不知道这会成为一部音乐剧，更不知道会成为一部百老汇音乐剧，还会传遍全球，所以我想他们当时以为我们只是一群不知道自己在做什么的年轻人。幸运的是，后来他们会来参加工作坊，我们会坐在剧场后排观察他们，担心他们的看法，而一次又一次，他们都告诉我们这个故事值得被讲述，他们都认可了我们的创作。
“也有一些小细节。我记得尼克和黛安告诉我们，他们是在巴士上接吻，而不是在飞机上，我们说，‘你知道，我们现在还没有巴士上的场景，所以如果你们能改成在飞机上接吻，那就更好了。’他们也接受了这些小改动。但总的来说，我们和这些人成为了朋友。我们和尼克、黛安还有贝弗利·贝斯一起完成了‘斯卡奇因’仪式。”
你们亲吻了鳕鱼？
海因：“我们亲吻了鳕鱼！但艾琳有点怕鱼，没办法亲吻鱼，当时主持仪式的克劳德·埃利奥特市长非常大度地说，‘我和你做个交易：你要么亲吻鱼，要么亲吻我。’”
桑科夫：“他还冲我眨了眨眼，意思是不管你怎么做都没问题。”
海因：“所以，艾琳亲吻了市长，第二天我们采访他的时候，我说，‘嗨，我是大卫，你已经吻过我的妻子了。’”
桑科夫：“不过我得说，我们确实很谨慎。我们第一次采访凯文·T的时候，我记得问他，‘如果故事里出现你和你的男友，你没问题吗？还是说你希望我们不要包含这段内容？’他想了一会儿。他说，‘不，不，没关系。’而阿里这个角色，实际上是基于五名男性创作的。至少我们采访过的其中一名男性，不想被认出身份，这没问题。他看过这部剧，但他不会回到后台，也不会参与其他任何活动，我们就替他保守身份秘密。”
海因：“我们有过一次很奇怪的经历，剧中有一个角色是另一个角色的男友，我们当时还没机会和他本人沟通，在西雅图进行工作坊的中途，我们的一位演员收到了一封邮件，说‘我想你们在音乐剧里演的是我吧？’我们终于见到了他，幸运的是，他是音乐剧爱好者。”
桑科夫：“他的邮箱地址是《灰色花园》的那个地址，我当时就想，‘哦糟了！他懂音乐剧，他肯定知道这事儿要成了！’”
海因：“但他非常友善，见到他真的很棒。我们一直努力让真实人物们相信这部剧，相信我们没有辜负他们，相信这就是他们的故事。所以如果有任何他们不喜欢的地方，我想他们都会愿意来找我们。而且最重要的是，我们用他们自己的话语讲述了他们的故事，这才是我们在乎的。”
这部剧首次在甘德镇演出时，反响如何？
桑科夫：“用英语都难以形容。只有喜悦。一开始，场外排队的观众都很安静，因为纽芬兰人过去常被加拿大人当作笑柄，所以我想每个人都在想，‘我们会被怎么呈现？’但当我们唱起《我是岛民，我是岛民》的合唱时，人们开始跺脚、拍手，我的天，太有意思了。《斯卡奇因》中间有一首古老的民谣，是一首呼应式歌曲，但我们忘了告诉演员们。”
海因：“所以当演员们唱歌时，全场观众齐声喊出‘出发’回应他们，所有人都哭了。第一次把这部剧带回纽芬兰的经历，太非凡了。
“我们当时在世界最大的步入式冷藏库里举办慈善音乐会，也就是他们当时存放食物的冰球场。整个镇子的人都来了，我们非常紧张。演员们也很担心自己的口音是否标准；我们也很担心能否准确传达那些分享给我们的故事。但演出结束时，在最后一首歌的旋律中，所有人都站了起来。甘德镇数千人站起身欢呼。”
桑科夫：“演出甚至还没结束，但他们就已经不在乎了。我们都听不到演员的声音了。”
海因：“我们所有人都哭了。那是最棒的体验。之后的一切都只是锦上添花。没有什么能比那个夜晚更好了。而现在再次将这部剧带回纽芬兰，意义非凡，因为我们不只是带回了这部剧，我们也带回了整个世界。我们向世界各地的人们展示了这部剧，他们正来到甘德镇，填满了当地的酒店和餐厅，用无数种方式表达着他们的感激，感谢这份灵感，感谢我们2011年第一次看到的希望。”
苹果TV+录制的这部百老汇卡司版剧集，是在我们刚从新冠封锁中走出来时录制的——这也是一场类似的创伤，就像当时乘客们不知道会发生什么一样，我们当时也不知道新冠会如何发展，封锁会持续多久，等等。所以终于能回到剧场和观众一起现场演绎这个故事，是什么样的感觉？
海因：“棒极了。我们之前一直在考虑把《来自远方》拍成电影，所以新冠疫情爆发时，一切都糟透了，因为我们的剧和整个戏剧行业遭受了重创，所有人都失业了。我们很快就开始思考如何让大家重返工作岗位，而现场录制这部剧，是让我们的乐队、演员和剧组人员回归工作的绝佳方式。把所有人集中在酒店里进行闭环管理，把他们带到剧场，再邀请观众入场，所有人都戴着口罩，这难度极大。我记得当天剧场里有观众时，时代广场发生了枪击事件，我们不得不锁上大门，让大家收好手机，告诉家人他们很安全。所以那是一段紧张、令人担忧的时期，充满了恐惧。但能让我们的大家庭重新团聚，让这些人重返工作岗位，创作出有意义的艺术作品，提醒我们黑暗之后仍能迎来光明，这让我无比开心。我真的很高兴我们做到了。
“我想它现在是全球上演次数最多的音乐剧，至少在北美是这样。”
桑科夫：“已经有在韩国和瑞典的制作了。我们刚收到一份关于中国的合同，就在我的收件箱里。现在随便在哪都能碰到《来自远方》的演出！我在科罗拉多的时候，有人说‘你的剧在离这儿40分钟的地方上演’，他们还说‘我们想去看！’我当时就说，‘好啊，走吧！’这太不可思议了，简直疯了。”
海因：“而最特别的是，在布宜诺斯艾利斯或韩国看这部剧时。在日本，演员们告诉我们，他们并没有受到9·11事件太大的影响，但他们经历过3·11大地震和海啸，这部剧对他们来说，就是讲述他们的社区如何应对那场悲剧的故事。看到全世界的人都像我们当初来到甘德镇时一样，被这个故事打动、鼓舞，这让我们无比肯定。这意味着我们都相信同样的东西。我们都想成为好人，都想善待彼此，这是一份难以置信的礼物。
“而现在这部剧依然能引起共鸣，尤其是——我们现在在加拿大，但我们的第二故乡是纽芬兰，第三故乡是纽约。谢天谢地，我们现在有很多个家了。但拥有这样一个故事，能提醒我们两国可以携手合作，互相扶持，这再次提醒我们，我们可以比现在做得更好。”
观看百老汇卡司版《来自远方》预告片，请点击下方视频播放器：
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af77C4zUkjs
《来自远方》官方预告片 | Apple TV 由 Apple TV 在 YouTube 发布
现场音乐会
9月13日周日，在纽约市，《来自远方》的前百老汇演员和全国巡演卡司将重聚，举办一场免费的一次性音乐会，纪念9·11事件25周年。《来自远方》音乐会：纪念之声，这场露天音乐会将在曼哈顿下城的佩雷尔曼表演艺术中心举行，毗邻9·11纪念园。
观看《来自远方音乐会：纪念之声》演员排练视频，请点击下方视频播放器：
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mitP_WZQw5o
《来自远方音乐会》排练花絮 由 CBS Sunday Morning 在 YouTube 发布
“Come From Away”: Transforming tragedy into art, darkness into light
2026-09-06 11:11 AM EDT / CBS News
By David Morgan
One of the most affecting stories to come from the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 – one that instills a faith in humanity in spite of the horrifying events of that day – was about the generosity of the residents of a small Canadian town towards several thousand stranded, anxious travelers.
In the wake of the attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all air traffic, forcing 38 international flights headed to the United States to land at an airport in Newfoundland near the small town of Gander. The locals responded to the emergency by providing aid and comfort to seven thousand passengers and flight crew members, many desperate for news from home. The locals’ individual and collective acts of kindness became the basis of the acclaimed musical “Come From Away.”
A scene from the original Broadway production of “Come From Away.” Matthew Murphy, “Come From Away”
With book, music and lyrics by the husband-and-wife team of Irene Sankoff and David Hein, the show features an ensemble cast of 12 actors playing all the characters, from the “plane people” stranded on the island, to the Newfoundlanders who took them in. Sankoff and Hein conducted research while visiting Gander during the 10th-year reunion held in 2011. With a book and lyrics taken from their interviews, and a score infused with folk music, “Come From Away” bowed in New York in March 2017, and went on to win three Drama Desk Awards (including outstanding musical and outstanding book of a musical) and a Tony Award (for best director). It played on Broadway for 5 1/2 years (with a break for COVID), and has been produced around the world ever since. A live capture of the show featuring the Broadway cast is currently available on Apple TV+.
Sankoff (a native of Ontario) and Hein (born in Saskatchewan) talked with “CBS Sunday Morning” about the origin of the show, and about the impact it has had on the people of Gander.
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Conception
Irene Sankoff and David Hein in 2017 in New York City. Walter McBride/Getty Images
Sankoff and Hein, who were living in New York City in a residence for international students on September 11, 2001, said they were not aware of what was happening at Gander at the time that Manhattan was shrouded in the dust of the collapsed World Trade Center: “All of our neighbors came out and took care of us,” Hein said. “There’s a lot of musicians there, they played music, we had meals together, they checked in on us. My cousin was in the towers, but fortunately escaped, she was on the first floor. And so, we were all waiting for news together, and this community, this international community, came together to take care of each other.
“At the time, one of the residents actually said thank you to us for taking planes on that day, and we didn’t even know what they were talking about. But later, when we heard the story of what happened in Gander, it resonated with us because, not only the kindness that we saw in our immediate community, but in the kindness and generosity that New Yorkers showed on 9/12 and the days afterwards – giving blood, being there for one another – and that the theater community did as well.”
In interviewing the residents of Gander and the passengers, what was your initial intent, or did you not have one?
Sankoff: “Well, we had been commissioned to write a musical for Sheridan College out in Oakville for the very new Canadian Musical Theatre Project. I remember being afraid, like, there are so many stories, this cannot be, like, the typical musical. How do we do this? I think maybe this is like a ‘Laramie Project’ sort of play.”
Hain: “But I had grown up on Newfoundland music, and everyone we interviewed out there brought out an instrument, and brought up the music that they played growing up. Music is how the Newfoundlanders get through hard times. They have terrible winters out there, and they all come together in kitchen parties and play music and tell stories, and we knew that they had entertained everyone who had been there [on 9/11]. It was this amazing story of music and art, and also generosity.”
Sankoff: “It was at a benefit concert to give back to the survivors of 9/11 and the family members, and so, as soon as that music started, I turned to David, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, you’re right, it is a musical.’
“As soon as we told people this is what we were talking about, they wanted to talk to us. They wanted the story told, and at that time, you know, we were doing this for a college, and they still would travel two hours on the train to come out and talk to us in person and say, like, you can’t understand how smart and generous and kind these people were, and this story deserves to be told. And that was really what fueled us: okay, these people who experienced it firsthand and are so grateful want this told. We’ve gotta do it. We’ve gotta tell it.”
Using people’s testimony as book and lyrics is reminiscent of “A Chorus Line” and “Studs Terkel’s Working.” What were the models for you in translating the interviews with the Gander locals and the plane people into book and song?
Hein: “We did talk about ‘Chorus Line,’ I remember when we did a lot of the direct address, and obviously the testimony, [and] Irene’s memories of seeing ‘Chorus Line’ as a kid. We obviously looked at ‘Laramie Project,’ because it was about interviewers going into a community that had, you know, dealt with a tragedy, and also finding some hope in the middle of it. ‘Into the Woods’ was a strong one. It was group storytelling, and it was a group that goes through an experience and comes out changed on the other side. ‘Once’ told us that that musical vocabulary could be on a Broadway show.
Sankoff: “‘Peter and the Starcatcher,’ the direct address into scenes, you know, and just the theatricality of pulling things out of nothing, which is a very big Canadian thing to do. But, you know, we just didn’t know if that was a Broadway thing to do. But the other thing was, we weren’t aiming to Broadway at that point.”
Hein: “We thought Canadian high schools would be forced to do the show as some sort of Canadian high school project.”
Sankoff: “Well, having been in New York after 9/11, I was, like, no one’s gonna wanna see this. No American is gonna wanna see this. And I’m like, okay, well, you know, the story deserves to be told. The people who it happened to want the story told, so even if we’re just doing it for them, we’re gonna do it. Like, we have to follow through on this, and see what happens, you know? And it was kind of freeing to know that like, okay, well, we’re not aiming for Broadway. This isn’t gonna be a regular musical. We just wrote it the way that the story could best be told, and that meant the music propelling us forward into sort of montage scenes, and not having one lead character. I mean, it was a lot of fun. It’s a lovely world to live in as you’re developing it and, you know, having these voices in your head. I remember going back to Gander, like, four or five years later, and talking to Oz and Bonnie and Claude as if they were old friends, because they were in our heads for four or five years. But you know, they’d forgotten we’d ever gone out there to interview them, so it took them a minute to be like, why are you here? And these are Broadway producers? What’s happening? It was a very unique journey, I think, not like a lot of shows going to Broadway.”
Was there consolidation of real people into single characters?
Hein: “We often say that we were telling the story of 7,000 passengers who were on the tarmac and 9,000 locals in Newfoundland, so we were telling 16,000 stories, so to make it just coherent for people, we met a lot of women named Diane and a lot of men named Kevin, and we had to consolidate some stories together.”
Is that why you had two Kevins?
Hein: “There actually were two Kevins! And the firefighter’s name, Hannah’s son, is Kevin as well, and we refer to him as Kev. I think we only refer to him once by name. And some stories shared themes of faith or food or translation. There were two translation stories that we found a way to combine. But we always wanted the real people who experienced the story, the plane people around the world, who saw that kindness, to say that’s actually what happened. So, when we made small changes, it was always to try to illustrate larger stories that actually happened.”
Sankoff: “Even something as silly as, like, Captain Bristol, or the doctors cleaning the bathrooms: we were sitting with five women from Gander Academy, the teachers, and I think we were the first people to interview them, so they were completely fresh, and just, like, stream-of-consciousness talking to each other, and then they just say like, ‘Oh, remember the doctors, you know, the most educated people were cleaning the toilets,’ and just their excitement about them, and then this one teacher’s excitement about the captain. Okay, so what does that look like? Let’s have some fun with that. Captain Bass, she’s very much, that’s her story. ‘Me and the Sky’ is verbatim, pretty much.”
Hein: “Yeah, we interviewed her for, like, four hours, and we were ready to make ‘Captain Bass: The Musical.’”
Sankoff: “But it may happen to a different captain. So even someone like her, like, it’s all stuff that happened. Maybe happened to somebody else, and maybe happened slightly differently, but we didn’t exaggerate the kindness, the events. It was more like, okay, [Nick and Diane] kissed on a bus, not on a plane. Like, those were the liberties we took, nothing like let’s make them look nicer. If anything, we had to hold back, because we knew people wouldn’t believe it, you know?”
The bravery of being kind
The show is very much about first responders, though they don’t treat it as their job or their calling; the show simply depicts it as the locals’ common-sense response to an emergency. Did the plane people appreciate how uncommon that might be? And did the Gander locals?
Hein: “No. The plane people told us how extraordinary the response was; the locals in Newfoundland told us how ordinary the response was. They said, ‘This is just what anyone would do.’ And what’s been amazing has been, time and time again, people from around the world saying, ‘This was extraordinary.’ It renews people’s faith in humanity, and reminded people that there was good in the world, and that’s what the stranded passengers saw.”
Sankoff: “To them, it just made sense. As Claude said, you know, we could have 7,000 scared, lonely, angry, and then he said hangry people sitting on the edge of town, but instead, just by treating them with respect and humanity, we had 7,000 friends. And then eventually, when they left, it was 7,000 new family members. So, I mean, to them, it just made sense to be like, okay, come off the planes, and let’s put you in some community buildings. They got off the planes, they went through some processing by mostly volunteers of the town, they got given a juice box, they got given a sandwich, they got put on a bus, and they got put in different community buildings. And then they said, ‘Oh, you’re eight months pregnant? You’re 87 years old? You’re not comfortable. Come to my house.’ You think of it, it just made sense. And they’re still a little, like, ‘What is wrong with the rest of you, that just doesn’t make sense?’”
The kindness and compassion, we’ve seen before with natural disasters, like hurricanes and wildfires; the community helps out. But this has the added dimension of a traumatic event where the people don’t know what’s going to happen, they don’t know what’s going to happen to them, they don’t know where they’re being driven to, and so forth. So that tension is really butting up against the generosity, where people want to help, and one guy is worried that they’re gonna take his wallet. That tension was very humanizing, in terms of telling their story, and that’s the bridge that had to be crossed between the two parties.
Hein: “I think there was so much unknown on both sides. People were getting off the planes, and they still hadn’t seen any of the images [of the attacks] by that time, after being cooped up on planes for 28 hours, and then eventually winding up in a hall with TVs set up. But on the other hand, the locals were also just getting the news, and were being told that any of the planes might be bomb threats, and yet still people were climbing into the holds to take care of the animals, and they were welcoming these people into their homes without knowing who they were. It’s a type of bravery that we rarely see or talk about these days. It’s the bravery of being kind.”
It’s 25 years later. Many in the audience weren’t even alive when it happened. And yet the show is still meeting success. It’s not like it only has something to speak of to the people who were there, who remember, who had experienced it at that time. How do you understand younger audiences taking away this story if they didn’t live through it themselves?
Hein: “I think we’ve been surprised that the show resonates with young people and old alike, for people who weren’t alive at the time when 9/11 happened. We’ve seen kids come up with Captain Beverly Bass on their shirt. A young Muslim woman said that this show helped her understand why the world changed that day, and what actually happened. It helped them give context to that event. And it’s been a safe way for teachers to explain 9/11 to their classrooms by starting off by saying there were people helping. And that’s extended to – time and again, unfortunately – tragedies around the world.
“People are able to take this story and say, this is how you respond to a tragedy, and to always look for the helpers in the background, because there’s far more of them than there are people trying to hurt people. So, I think it’s resonated with kids, when they see dark times, and remembering that this is how we can respond.”
I understand that the interview subjects were able to approve of their characters’ depictions. Was there anything they had objected to – not necessarily because they thought it was wrong, but because they wanted to be private about it?
Hein: “We were very lucky that when we first went out to Gander on the 10th anniversary, so many people were remembering the stories, and the people who wanted to tell the stories and share their stories, were the ones that came out and who we talked to. Obviously, they didn’t know this was going to be a musical, they didn’t know it was going to be a Broadway musical, and that it was going to go around the world, so I think they thought we were a bunch of kids who didn’t know what they were doing. And luckily, they then would come to workshops, and we would watch them from the back of the house and worry about what they thought, and time and again, they told us that the story needed to be told, and they approved it.
“There were small details. I remember Nick and Diane telling us that they kissed on a bus instead of kissing on a plane, and we said, ‘You know, we don’t have a scene on a bus right now, so it would really be better if you could kiss on the plane.’ And they’ve, you know, accepted those small alterations. But overall, these were people that we made friends with. We got ‘screeched in’ with Nick and Diane and Beverly Bass.”
You kissed the cod?
Hein: “We kissed the cod! But Irene, who has a slight fish phobia, could not kiss the fish, and Claude, Mayor Elliott, who was running the ceremony, very graciously said, ‘I’ll make you a deal: you can either kiss the fish, or you can kiss me.’”
Sankoff: “And he gave me a wink, like a very, whatever you do is gonna be fine.”
Hein: “So, Irene kissed the mayor, and then the next day we had an interview with him, and I said, ‘Hi, I’m David, and you’ve already kissed my wife.’”
Sankoff: “I will say that we were sensitive, though. When we were first talking to Kevin T, I remember asking him, ‘Are you okay if you’re in the story with your boyfriend, or do you want us to not include that?’ And he thought about it for a second. He was like, ‘No, no, it’s okay.’ And then with Ali, that’s actually based on five men. At least one of those men that we spoke to, you know, they didn’t want to be identified, and that’s fine. He’s seen the show, but he doesn’t come backstage, he doesn’t take part in anything else, and we just sort of keep his identity secret.”
Hein: “We had one, strange moment where we had a character in the show who was the boyfriend of another character, and we hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to them, and in the middle of doing the workshop in Seattle, one of our actors got an email saying, ‘I think you’re playing me in a musical?’ And we finally got to meet him, and fortunately, he was a musical theater fan.”
Sankoff: “His email address was the address of Grey Gardens. And I was like, ‘Oh God, we’re in trouble! He knows musical theater, he’s gonna know this is happening!’”
Hein: “But he was very gracious, and it was wonderful to meet him. We’ve always tried to have the real people believe in the show, but also believe that we were doing right by them, and that this was their story. And so, if ever there was something that they didn’t like, I think they felt comfortable coming to us. But also, we were telling their story with their words, and that’s what’s important to us.”
What was the reception to the show when it was performed for the first time in Gander?
Sankoff: “There’s not words in the English language. Just joy. At first, it was very quiet in the lines outside, because Newfoundlanders, they used to be the butt of jokes in Canada, so I think everyone was very like, How are we gonna be represented? And as soon as we got into the chorus of ‘I’m an Islander, I’m an Islander,’ people started, like, stomping their feet and clapping their hands, and oh my gosh, it was so fun. There’s an old folk song in the middle of ‘Screech In,’ where it’s a call-and-response song, but we’ve forgotten to tell the cast that.”
Hein: “So, when the cast sings, the entire audience yelled ‘Heave Away’ back at them, and everyone burst into tears. It was an extraordinary experience bringing the show back to Newfoundland the first time.
“We were doing a benefit concert in the world’s largest walk-in refrigerator, which is their hockey rink where they stored the food at the time. And the entire town came out, and we were so worried. The actors were so worried about getting their accents right; we were so worried about sharing the stories that had been shared with us. By the end of the show, in the final song, everyone stood up. Thousands of people in Gander stood up and started cheering.”
Sankoff: “The show wasn’t even over yet, but they were just like, we don’t even care. We couldn’t hear the actors.”
Hein: “We were all in tears. It was the best. Everything after that is a cherry on top. There’s nothing that will be better than that night. And bringing it back now to Newfoundland means the world, because we’re not just bringing the show back, we’re bringing the world back. We’ve shown people around the world, and they are coming to Gander, and they are filling the hotels, and filling the restaurants, and showing them, in a million different ways, that they’re thankful for the inspiration, for the hope that we saw the first time in 2011.”
The Apple TV filming of the show, with the Broadway cast, was recorded just as we were coming out of the COVID lockdown – a similar trauma where, just as the passengers didn’t know what was going to happen, we didn’t know what was going to happen with COVID, how long the lockdown was going to take, and so forth. So, what was it like to finally get back into the theater with people and have this story performed live?
Hein: “It was amazing. We had been working on ‘Come From Away’ potentially as a movie, and so when COVID hit, it was mostly awful, because our show and the theater community was struck so hard, and everyone was out of work. We very quickly tried to pivot to how do we bring people back to work, and doing a live capture of the show was a wonderful way to bring our band and our cast and our crew back. It was insanely challenging to bubble everyone in a hotel, to bring them over, to bring an audience in, all masked. I remember on the day when we had the audience in the theater, there was a shooter in Times Square, and we had to lock the doors, and everyone had to get their cell phones back, and tell their families that they were safe. And so, it was a tense, worrying time, with a lot of fear. And it was so joyous to bring our family back together, to bring these people back to work, and to create some art that had something to say, that reminded us that there can be light after darkness again. I’m so glad we were able to do it.
“It’s the most-produced show in the world now, I think, at least in North America.”
Sankoff: “There’ve been productions in Korea and Sweden. We’re just sort of signing a contract about China that’s sitting in my inbox. You can’t shake a stick without hitting a production of ‘Come From Away’! I was in, like, Colorado, and someone was like, ‘Your show’s playing 40 minutes from here,’ and they were like, ‘We want to go!’ And I was like, ‘Alright, let’s go!’ It’s remarkable. It’s insane.”
Hein: “And what’s extraordinary is seeing the show in Buenos Aires or Korea. In Japan, the cast told us that they weren’t affected by 9/11 very much, but they had their 3/11, which was the tsunami, and the show was about that. It was about how their community responded to that tragedy. And seeing the world say, ‘This inspires us, this moves us’ in the same way that we were initially moved when we came to Gander, is so affirming. It means that we all believe in the same thing. We all want to be good people and want to be good to one another, and it’s been an incredible gift.
“And to have the show resonate now, especially – we’re here in Canada, but our second home is Newfoundland, and our third home is New York. I mean, we have many homes now, thankfully. But, to have a story that reminds us that our two countries can work together, and we’re there for one another, is another reminder that we can be better than we are right now.”
To watch a trailer for “Come From Away,” featuring the Broadway cast, click on the video player below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af77C4zUkjs
Come From Away — Official Trailer | Apple TV by Apple TV on YouTube
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Live Concert
On Sunday, Sept. 13 in New York City, former Broadway and national tour company members of “Come From Away” will reunite for a free, one-time-only concert event to commemorate 25 years since 9/11. “Come From Away” in Concert: Sounds of Remembrance, an open-air concert, will be performed at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in Lower Manhattan, across from the 9/11 Memorial.
To watch rehearsal video featuring the cast of “Come From Away in Concert: Sounds of Remembrance,” click on the video player below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mitP_WZQw5o
Rehearsal for “Come From Away in Concert” by CBS Sunday Morning on YouTube