WHEN YOU’RE HOPING
FOR A HARBOR

A stirring in-the-round production finds
hope, humor, and humanity in the
strangers who became a community

David Benoit and the Company

Director Kevin P. Hill’s production of Come From Away lands at North Shore Music Theatre as a timely reminder of human grace and community in the face of adversity. Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s musical, based on real events, recounts the time when 38 planes carrying nearly 7,000 passengers were diverted to the small Gander, Newfoundland, airport as a result of the closure of U.S. airspace on September 11, 2001.

Laurel Harris

We are welcomed “to the rock” with a folk-inspired score that leans into the rich musical history of Atlantic Canada. It provides a proudly Canadian perspective on an event that redefined America. The story oscillates effortlessly between comedy and grief, showing how people came together in the face of unprecedented trauma.

Carla Woods and Mary Callanan

Come From Away balances two perspectives: the Newfoundlanders who went above and beyond to welcome their unexpected foreign guests and the passengers grappling with their own uncertainty and grief. The cast of 12, whose members all play at least two characters, shifts seamlessly between personas in a revolving narrative, slipping into multiple accents and costumes while keeping each character distinct.

David Benoit grounds the Newfoundland side of the story as Mayor Claude Elliott, addressing the “come from aways” and speaking directly to us while keeping things real with his down-to-earth personality. Laurel Harris provides insight into the American narrative as Captain Beverley Bass. Her captivating power ballad “Me and the Sky” tells her story with a mixture of determination and raw vulnerability, explaining how she achieved her dream of becoming one of the first female pilots in the commercial airline industry, conquering patriarchal hiring practices only to have “the one thing [she] loved more than anything” stolen. While each of the characters is charmingly quirky, Carla Woods’s Hannah, the mother of a New York firefighter, is another standout character whose performance humanizes the mixture of desperation and dignity of a worried mother.

The Company

The production takes advantage of Jack Mehler’s scenic design and NSMT’s in-the-round stage. Although the platform revolves at one point, it remains largely stationary, with a handful of props creating locations from planes to coffee shops. The spare design places the focus on Hill’s fluid staging and the actors’ ability to transform one location into another. Mehler’s lighting reinforces the tonal shifts, at times extending into the seating area and making the 1,500-seat theater feel unexpectedly intimate.

Carla Woods and the Company

The show runs nonstop for one hour and 40 minutes and is unflinching in its depiction of the uncertainty surrounding 9/11. Even as Come From Away celebrates the friendships born from the kindness of strangers, it acknowledges the unsettling circumstances that brought them together, including why the remote Gander airport became a destination for so many diverted aircraft.

The story also explores how easily uncertainty can turn differences in religion, language, and culture into reasons for suspicion. As news spreads and security measures increase, the characters become increasingly aware of rising racial tensions. Their experiences offer a timely reminder to confront apprehension with a willingness to learn and empathize rather than make assumptions.

Twenty-five years after the events that inspired it, the show finds its power not in diminishing the horror of that day, but in focusing on what ordinary people chose to do in its immediate aftermath. In Gander, thousands of frightened strangers were given food, shelter, comfort, and, for a few days, a place to belong. Amid tragedy, Come From Away reminds us that kindness can be its own form of courage.

The Cast

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photos by Paul Lyden

Come From Away
North Shore Music Theatre
54 Dunham Rd. in Beverly
Tue–Thu at 7:30; Fri & Sat at 8; Wed, Sat & Sun at 2
ends on Sept. 27, 2026
1 hour and 40 minutes, no intermission
for tickets ($85–$105), call 978.232.7200 or visit North Shore Music Theatre

for more shows, visit Theatre in Boston

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