“Come From Away” is, first and foremost, a journalistic feat.
When Canadian writers Irene Sankoff and David Hein conducted dozens of interviews 15 years ago in Gander, Newfoundland, they unearthed the tale of how one Canadian town offered refuge to the world in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. If they had simply assembled those conversations into a podcast or oral history, it would’ve made for an eye-opening artifact.
But Sankoff and Hein thankfully are dramatists — musical-theater dramatists, to be specific. They condensed those interviews into a rich tapestry of composite characters, hewing to the truth with tasteful dramatic license. For good measure, they wove it all together with a folksy, Celtic-infused score that stirs souls with the best of ’em.
The result is a breathtaking, tear-jerking, heartwarming ode to the human spirit’s fortitude in the cruelest of times. “Come From Away” may be the 21st century’s best new musical this side of “Hamilton.” And the galvanizing revival now at Ford’s Theatre, where the show embarked on a pre-Broadway run a decade ago, is the finest production on a D.C.-area stage this year.
Director Kevin S. McAllister — an actor in the company of “Come From Away” at Ford’s and on Broadway — turned out to be an ideal shepherd for this modern masterpiece. Those familiar with Christopher Ashley’s Tony-winning direction on Broadway will recognize the same crisp clarity here, as all 12 actors seamlessly shift among myriad characters. Yet McAllister knows how to leave his stamp without overdoing the ink.
While Katy Tabb’s stomp-and-clap choreography smartly evokes the original run, Emily Lotz’s reimagined set — featuring stacks of luggage, towering wood panels and a tiered turntable — is a welcome flourish. The same goes for Xavier Pierce’s clever lighting, which peeks through those earthy beams to evoke an airport arrivals board, a ticking clock and any other images that need summoning.
Most important, McAllister doesn’t press his thumb on the storytelling scales and throw a perfectly balanced musical out of whack. In recounting the tale of Gander, the remote village that took in some 7,000 stranded passengers when airspace closed after 9/11, Sankoff and Hein expertly deploy small-town charm and fact-based authenticity. Although “Come From Away” doesn’t shy from its somber core, the propulsive show is so light on its feet that the tragedy never lingers in the pit of your stomach.
Instead, we revel in the story of the Texan (Caitlin Brooke) and the Englishman (Joe Mallon) who find love on the northeastern tip of North America. There’s also the gay couple (Michael Perrie Jr. and Jonathan Atkinson) surprised to discover Gander’s matter-of-fact tolerance. Who couldn’t instantly root for Erin Weaver’s Bonnie, who tends to the animals found aboard the grounded planes?
All the while, these exceptional actors breathe renewed life into Sankoff and Hein’s rousing score. Lawrence Redmond’s brash mayor leads the rollicking opener, “Welcome to the Rock,” plus its show-closing reprise. As Beverley Bass, American Airlines’ first female captain, Housso Sémon soars through a shattering “Me and the Sky.” And good luck not tapping your toes to the playful pub tune “Screech In.”
For a production timed to the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, “Come From Away” meets the moment for entirely unrelated reasons. As political strife unsettles D.C., and President Donald Trump’s administration picks fights with the United States’ northern neighbor, here comes a reminder of how camaraderie and compassion can uplift us all. Let us never forget again.
Through Oct. 25 at Ford’s Theatre, 511 10th St. NW. About 1 hour 45 minutes. fords.org.
Here are reviews of three more productions now on D.C.-area stages:
‘The Score’
Speaking of uncanny resonance: Oliver Cotton’s “The Score,” the 18th-century tragicomedy starring Brian Cox (“Succession”) as Johann Sebastian Bach, picked quite the time to hop across the pond and settle in at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Harman Hall. After all, the fact-based play wrestles with an autocrat’s warmongering ways, artists’ roles in the political discourse and what happens when despots derail creative expression. Sound familiar?
“The Score” depicts Bach’s 1747 visit to the court of Prussian King Frederick II (a wonderful Stephen Hagan, who clearly went to the Jonathan Groff school of flamboyant monarchy). As a resident of soldier-infested Leipzig, where Frederick’s troops are at best disruptive and at worst demonic, Bach can’t help but take his objections to the king. As the two exchange pointed barbs, Frederick challenges the aging composer to improvise a theme into an intricate musical fugue — offering the origins of Bach’s “The Musical Offering.”
It can be quite heavy, and Cotton wisely lets the ideological debate sink in. But director Trevor Nunn, who also oversaw the play’s 2024 premiere at the Theatre Royal Bath and its West End transfer, wisely plays up the farce of these stranger-than-fiction events.
Peter De Jersey understands the assignment, playing French philosopher Voltaire — another of Frederick’s invitees — as a Bach-revering fanboy. Matthew Romain, Christopher Staines and Toby Webster amuse as a trio of composers at Frederick’s beck and call. Nicole Ansari-Cox and Jamie Wilkes — playing Bach’s wife and son, respectively — also find moments of levity.
But Cox is the draw, and his vigorous Bach hits all the right notes. Yes, he boasts enough inherent dignity to sell the German musician’s mettle and intellectual honesty in the face of tyranny. But Cox also gleans many a laugh with a double take or a pregnant pause. Forget the harpsichord: It’s a pleasure to see Cox play the audience like a fiddle.
Through Oct. 25 at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Harman Hall, 610 F St. NW. About 2 hours 45 minutes. shakespearetheatre.org.
‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’
The titular songstress doesn’t storm onto the scene in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” until intermission is around the corner. But as much as Nicole Michelle Haskins’s blustering Ma immediately owns the stage, in a crackling production from Round House Theatre and Olney Theatre Center, it speaks to the crisp chemistry among the rest of the cast that her absence is decidedly inconspicuous.
That’s no surprise since director Lili-Anne Brown assembled a quartet of D.C. theater stalwarts to form Ma’s band: Craig Wallace as the dignified Cutler, Ro Boddie as the incredulous Toledo, Derrick Truby as the amiable Slow Drag and Yao Dogbe as the swaggering Levee. Set in a Chicago recording studio — cleverly realized by Arnel Sancianco’s three-level set — the barn burner marks the 1920s entry in August Wilson’s American Century Cycle.
As is typically the case in a Wilson classic, the mundanity inevitably morphs into something deeper. Here, it’s blistering banter about artistic compromise, internalized trauma and the strings-attached relationship between Black artists and White executives. For a play rooted in waiting around, it’s a marvel that “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” never loses steam.
Through Oct. 18 at Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Hwy., Bethesda. About 2 hours 30 minutes. roundhousetheatre.org.
‘Venus’
Two more staples of D.C. theater can be seen at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, where Regina Aquino and Kimberly Gilbert play women unpacking a wayward first date in the surrealist two-hander “Venus.”
Penned by “The Flight Attendant” creator Steve Yockey, the darkly comic — and eerily cosmic — endeavor keeps its ultimate premise close to its vest. Eventually, however, “Venus” emerges as a psychotic comedy of errors about the undue harm inflicted in modern dating, from suffocating obsession to callous apathy.
Well, that’s one interpretation. “Venus” proves engaging enough, thanks to Aquino and Gilbert’s love-hate rapport and Reggie D. White’s slick direction. But the text is too obtuse and inscrutable for its own good. When a play confounds more than coalesces, you have an astronomical problem.
Through Oct. 4 at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, 641 D St. NW. About 1 hour 30 minutes. woollymammoth.net.
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