Come From Away welcomes heroes from Newfoundland to opening night at NAC

Canadian musical brings its message of love and human kindness to National Arts Centre

The opening night of Come From Away at the National Arts Centre honoured special guests from Gander, N.L. by inviting them on stage after the show to help celebrate. Photo by Caroline Phillips
The opening night of Come From Away at the National Arts Centre honoured special guests from Gander, N.L. by inviting them on stage after the show to help celebrate. Photo by Caroline Phillips
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The opening night of Come From Away at the National Arts Centre on Thursday was a true celebration, complete with a lively on-stage kitchen party involving folks from Gander, N.L . whose stories are central to Canada’s most successful musical ever.

Former Ottawa resident David Hein, who co-wrote the international smash hit with his wife, Irene Sankoff, publicly recognized “the shoulders we stand on” while thanking the city and the NAC for exposing him to the arts when he was younger. At the end of the show – which inspired an instant standing ovation— he took to the stage at the NAC’s Babs Asper Theatre. 

Hein’s very first drama class was at Lisgar Collegiate, where he attended high school. He also joined its drama club. As well, he has a connection to local arts and cultural facility Arts Court, where he attended theatre camp.

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And then there’s the National Arts Centre — Canada’s home for the performing arts located in the heart of our city. “I saw my first musical here at the NAC,” he said, speaking to a near-capacity crowd.

“To the audiences who have supported new Canadian works and the arts in this country, thank you so much.”

From left, National Arts Centre president and CEO Christopher Deacon, NAC English Theatre artistic director Nina Lee Aquino, Come From Away co-creators Irene Sankoff and David Hein, and NAC English Theatre managing director David Abel at Ottawa’s opening night of the Canadian musical at the NAC. Photo by Caroline Phillips 
The opening night of Come From Away at the National Arts Centre honoured special guests from Gander, N.L. by inviting them on stage after the show to help celebrate. Photo by Caroline Phillips
From left, Romina Malhotra, National Arts Centre Foundation CEO Juniper Locilento and Bill Malhotra, founder and CEO of Claridge Homes, outside Babs Asper Theatre on Thursday, August 22, 2024 for the opening night of the Canadian musical Come From Away, a co-production of the NAC’s English Theatre and Mirvish Productions. Photo by Caroline Phillips
From left, National Arts Centre Foundation board members Gregory Sanders (partner at KPMG Law LLP) and Carol Devenny (CFO of Equality Fund) and Sanders’ son, Harry Sanders, outside Babs Asper Theatre on Thursday, August 22, 2024 for the opening night of the Canadian musical Come From Away, a co-production of the NAC’s English Theatre and Mirvish Productions. Photo by Caroline Phillips
Kevin Ford, CEO of Calian Group, and National Arts Centre Foundation CEO Juniper Locilento at the VIP post-show party for the Canadian musical Come From Away, which opened Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Sankoff is performing in the show exclusively during its limited run in Ottawa. Come From Away, co-presented by Mirvish Productions and the NAC’s English Theatre, returns to Toronto next month to reopen at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. It was shut down during the pandemic.

The show features an all-Canadian cast (including Ottawa-raised Steffi DiDomenicantonio).

Hein also helped to introduce the special visitors from Gander, whose stories inspired the musical. They included Claude Elliott, who’d been the mayor when the town, along with surrounding municipalities, welcomed thousands of passengers grounded there in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. The townsfolk looked after the displaced visitors over the next five days until air travel could resume. 

“But, you know, a lot of lessons was learned, certainly by us in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador,” said Elliott in a Newfoundland accent so thick it made you smile. “We’re good, kind, generous people. We don’t want anything in return. 

“I always say that love, kindness and compassion will outdo evil any day of the year,” he continued, his words greeted with heartfelt applause from his audience. “On the first day, we had 7,000 strangers in our town. On the third day, we had 7,000 friends, and on the fifth day [when air travel finally resumed] we lost 7,000 family members. That’s how close we became to those people and they became to us.”

Claude Elliott, who was mayor of Gander, N.L. when it took care of thousands of stranded airline passengers following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, attended and spoke during the opening night of Come From Away at the National Arts Centre while surrounded by fellow residents of the Gander area and former passengers, as well as cast members in the hit musical. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Elliott credited Hein and Sankoff for having such foresight. “I remember when they came into my office and, when they left, I remember saying to the town manager ‘That young couple’s going to end up on welfare’,” said Elliott, sending the audience into one of its many fits of laughter. Elliott said he just couldn’t see how they were going to tell a musical about sandwiches, blankets, pillows — the type of provisions they were handing out to the stranded passengers.

“But I’ll tell you ladies and gentlemen, they did a phenomenal job.”

Elliott spoke about how touched he remains by the support provided by residents of his town and province. “We had people bringing food as far as a five hours’ drive … I was so proud of Gander and I was so proud to be from the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and I was even prouder to be a Canadian.”

The opening night of Come From Away at the National Arts Centre honoured special guests from Gander, N.L. by inviting them on stage after the show. Photo by Caroline Phillips

The cast and crew celebrated at a VIP post-show party in the NAC’s O’Born Room. It almost felt like a pub thanks to the live music performed by the Bytown Sea Shanty Collective. The visitors from Gander were all invited and, not surprisingly, had no trouble striking up conversations with strangers.

NAC president and CEO Christopher Deacon congratulated Nina Lee Aquino, artistic director of English Theatre at the NAC, and managing director David Abel, for bringing Come From Away to the NAC audience. The musical has toured the world, telling the story of generosity of the residents of Gander and the surrounding communities, said Deacon, referring to the show’s inspiring message. “It has provided us as Canadians a reminder of what we’re capable of at our best moments.”

The production, which runs in Ottawa until Sept. 1, officially closes out the NAC’s 2023-2024 season for English Theatre, which is already hard at work on its next season, opening in just a few weeks, said Deacon.

Among the audience members spotted at the post-show party were Ottawa business leaders with a passion for arts and culture, including Thomas d’Aquino, a former CEO of what’s now known as the Business Council of Canada; Lisa Samson, principal at StrategyCorp’s Ottawa office; and Kevin Ford, CEO of Calian Group. 

Ford, who’d been invited to attend by the NAC Foundation, told OBJ.social he’d been wanting to see Come From Away for some time. “It was amazing,” he said at the party, telling NAC Foundation CEO Juniper Locilento: “The 100 minutes flew by like it was 10 seconds.”

Ottawa-Vanier MP Mona Vanier, who’d previously seen the musical on Broadway in New York City, was delighted to take in the performance in her hometown. “You could feel the kindness in the production.”

Attendees also included British-native Nick Marson and his American wife, Diane Marson. They were among the airline passengers that found themselves stuck in Gander and, subsequently, fell in love and got married. They live in Houston, Texas. The couple never gets tired of seeing Come From Away. Said Nick: “As Diane will say, we’ve seen it 155 times now and every time it’s like we’re renewing our vows.”

Houston, Texas residents Diane Marson and Nick Marson, who met and eventually married after their flight was grounded for five days in Gander, N.L., attended the opening night of Come From Away at the National Arts Centre on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. Photo by Caroline Phillips
Christopher Deacon, president and CEO of the National Arts Centre, and Liberal Ottawa-Vanier MP Mona Fortier at the VIP post-show part for Come From Away, which enjoyed its Ottawa opening night at the NAC on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. Photo by Caroline Phillips
Leo McKenna and Diane Davis, whose true stories helped to create the Canadian musical Come From Away, seen at the VIP post-show party at the National Arts Centre on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024, during the production’s opening night in Ottawa. Photo by Caroline Phillips
From left, Lisa Samson, managing principal of StrategyCorp’s Ottawa office, and Annabelle Cloutier, head of strategy, communications and corporate governance at the National Arts Centre, at Ottawa’s opening night of Come From Away on Thursday, August 22, 2024. Photo by Caroline Phillips
National Arts Centre Foundation board member Susan Peterson d’Aquino and Thomas d’Aquino were seen chatting with Derm Flynn, who was mayor of Appleton, N.L. — located just outside of Gander — at the National Arts Centre for Ottawa’s opening night of the Canadian musical Come From Away. Photo by Caroline Phillips
Luke Brown, development officer at the National Arts Centre, and NAC Foundation board member Diane Obam, a manager with the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation, on Thursday, August 22, 2024 for the opening night of the Canadian musical Come From Away, a co-production of the NAC’s English Theatre and Mirvish Productions. Photo by Caroline Phillips
Come From Away
Claude Elliott, former mayor of Gander, N.L., in conversation with fellow guests of a VIP post-show party held at the National Arts Centre on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024 to celebrate Ottawa’s opening night of Come From Away. Photo by Caroline Phillips
Ottawa-raised actor Steffi DiDomenicantonio with Come From Away castmate Jeff Madden at the VIP post-show party held Thursday, August 22, 2024, to celebrate Ottawa’s opening night of the Canadian musical at the National Arts Centre. Photo by Caroline Phillips
Ottawa’s Bytown Sea Shanty Collective performed at the VIP post-show party for the opening night of Come From Away, which is enjoying a limited run at the National Arts Centre until September 1. Photo by Caroline Phillips
Diane Marson (second from left) and her husband Nick Marson (far right) seen with the actors, James Kall and Barbara Fulton, who play them in the Canadian musical Come From Away, during Ottawa’s opening night at the National Arts Centre on Thursday, August 22, 2024. Photo by Caroline Phillips
caroline@obj.ca

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