A ROCK-SOLID ACT OF HUMANITY

Julia Rodriguez-Elliott directs a stirring,
beautifully performed celebration of
compassion in the darkest of times

Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s historical musical, Come From Away, chronicles a day when 38 airliners, mainly international carriers, were abruptly denied permission to land in New York or remain in American airspace. Celebrating its 35th year, A Noise Within, captained by Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott, is a theatrical powerhouse, capable of applying a dazzling luster to any show, and one would be hard-pressed to imagine a more potent production than this.

The day was September 11, 2001, and while the Manhattan sky remained blackened by the global tragedy transpiring on her streets, the skies of America were in lockdown.

On his very first day as the manager of the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), Ben Sliney reacted to the attacks and called for the first closure in the nation’s history of all U.S. airspace.

Thirty-eight New York-bound commercial flights were suddenly without a destination, and 7,000 passengers were abruptly “orphaned” in the sky.

Gander is a small town on the island of Newfoundland, in the northeastern part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, which I am certain 95% of Americans can’t point to on a map. (Count me among them.)

But those of us who remember that time firsthand remember the small Canadian town with the old airport. The 38 flights were diverted to Gander, population hovering around 5,000. This small, isolated community opened its landing strips and its lives to these 7,000 frightened and confused orphans from the sky.

They weren’t treated like “refugees” or a “displaced population”; they weren’t labeled “evacuees” or “immigrants.” Their “illegality” was never an issue. They were fellow human beings; the only issue was their needs. The citizens of Gander approached these anxious, frightened strangers and embraced them like family.

Gander would prove to be a shining moment in that deeply dark period. Sankoff and Hein have smartly woven the book, music, and lyrics of Come From Away from the tales and testimony of those who were there.

The set by scenic designer Frederica Nascimento is sharply structured, if possibly too “nose-on.” The narrative does make demands—an air traffic control tower, the interior of a commercial aircraft, the “wide-blue yonder,” a gymnasium, a rustic bar, Canada.

Nascimento expertly provides each; I just wonder if it all was needed. Nevertheless, along with Ken Booth’s lighting design, sound design by Jeff Gardner, and projections designed by Nick Santiago, the complete experience is one to delight the senses.

Director Rodriguez-Elliott infuses a sense of dynamism in her productions, joined to an equally intense sense of tribalism. Whether involving farm animals in revolt in Animal Farm, a group of theatrical professionals struggling to preserve the works of a brilliant playwright in A Man of No Importance, or a trio of Victorian serial killers, Rodriguez-Elliott expands that tribalism outward into a community that embraces her audiences, and this is apparent in Come From Away.

In such numbers as “Welcome to the Rock,” when the mayor of Gander (the always impressive Geoff Elliott) rallies the townsfolk to face the human tsunami descending on them, Elliott’s appeal goes from “pep talk” to battle chant rather swiftly, with the accompanying dance (choreographed by Indira Tyler) acquiring a militant hue.

This play is a construct of heart-tuggers. There’s Bonnie (Juliana Sloan), a Gander SPCA worker who wins the audience with the strength of her humanity as she braves the aircraft holds to tend to the needs of pets or whatever else may be lurking in them. There’s the odd couple of Diane the Texan (Trisha Miller) and Nick the Brit (David Nevell), who find more than comfort in each other’s company; and there’s the odder couple of the two Kevins (Nathan Mohebbi and Kasey Mahaffy), a gay urbanite couple who feel like they’ve been teleported back to the 1950s. You have Cassandra Marie Murphy as the pilot worried for her passengers’ welfare as she deals with the loss of coworkers and friends. There’s the young local reporter (Hannah Sedlacek) who finds herself covering a “global” story, and there’s the mother (Amber Liekhus), unable to contact her first-responder son in New York, whose performance of “Something’s Missing” is the show’s eleventh-hour number.

The full ensemble receives the highest mark, and director Rodriguez-Elliott once again flaunts her genius for crafting first-rate crowd-pleasers. Acknowledgment must be given to dialect coach Andrea Odinov for guaranteeing the “Newfoundlanders” are certifiably “Newfies.”

There’s no “happy ending” in Come From Away. (You wouldn’t expect one, would you?) But the ending it has is very heartfelt, very earnest, very agonizing, and a joyful celebration of the better angels we all have within us.

Gander was just one part of a much larger story. Operation Yellow Ribbon was commenced by Canada on the heels of 9/11. Its objective was both simple and gargantuan: to remove any potentially destructive or vulnerable aircraft completely from U.S. airspace and secure them on Canadian soil.

During the crisis, Canada provided sanctuary to between 225 and 250 foreign and domestic flights detoured from the U.S. and offered the hospitality of their nation to between 30,000 and 45,000 passengers.

Come From Away at A Noise Within is entertaining and touching. More importantly, it is a reminder of how fortunate our nation is to share the northern half of this continent with a people of such deep compassion and stunning civism. What stretches between our two countries is not a “border” but a bond.

As Come From Away attests, the Canadians are a gracious, sympathetic people, and I’m sure one day they’ll even find it in their hearts to forgive us for Trump.

One day.

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

photos by Craig Schwartz

Come From Away
A Noise Within
3352 E. Foothill Blvd. in Pasadena
100 minutes, no intermission
Thu & Fri at 7:30; Sat at 2 & 7:30; Sun at 2; Sun at 7 (Nov. 1 & 8 only)
ends on November 8, 2026
for tickets (starting at $41.75; students from $20), call 626.356.3121 or visit A Noise Within

for more shows, visit Theatre in LA

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦