Review of Come from Away (2021) by Dawdlingpoet — 10 Aug 2022

This is a musical that tells a very interesting story about what happened to numerous flights worth of passengers that were forced to land in a previously little known Canadian town/area called Gander in Newfoundland.

I certainly admire the locals who found themselves with literally thousands of people suddenly descending on their community, unsure how long they'd be forced to stay and unaware of precisely what had happened on that fateful day of 9/11 (2001). I'd actually heard a little about the story when it was discussed on the Jeremy Vine show on the radio many months ago and it interested me then, so I made a point of watching the musical film version when I got access to Apple+. This is very much like Hamilton - its a recording of a broadway show, its not a film adaptation of a musical or a musical film like 'La La Land' - its a case of watching the theatrical production from the audience's perspective pretty much (though we don't actually see the audience).

Needless to say, if you don't like musicals then this won't be for you. It's a serious story and I suppose it could seem a bit weird to have it told in a upbeat sort of a way but there again, to be able to tell such a story with a positive angle to it, well to be able to talk about any event relating to 9/11 in a semi-positive way has to be a pretty big achievement. I quite liked how certain passengers were focussed on at times, how they got on with each other and tried to raise their spirits etc. Its a compelling story certainly, yes and I'd say if your interested in this then yes, I'd recommend it.