Theatre Tulsa: Come From Away
Tulsa Performing Arts Center, Liddy Doenges Theatre
November 7, 2026
In Gander, Newfoundland, the days immediately following September 11, 2001 felt as surreal as they did in New York City, but for an entirely different reason. After two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center, dozens of flights entering American airspace were diverted to the international airport in Gander, a small Canadian town whose barely 10,000 residents banded together to welcome thousands of international passengers. It’s an almost impossibly heartwarming, hopeful story, one that would end up to become the hit Broadway musical Come From Away, which Theatre Tulsa staged this past weekend with aplomb.
Wife-and-husband writing duo Irene Sankoff and David Hein sought to be as true to history as possible. When the 10th anniversary of 9/11 rolled around, they made a trip to Gander. Over the span of a month-long stay, they received that infamous Gander hospitality as residents opened their homes and shared their stories. These storytellers were the individuals who ended up appearing in the musical, people like Bonnie, the director of the local SPCA, who searched the hulls of the planes to deliver care to the pets on board; Diane and Nick, two passengers from different countries who ended up falling in love; and Beverly, the first female captain of a commercial American Airlines plane and one of several who made an emergency stop in Gander.
As the musical makes clear, welcoming so many people from different walks of life wasn’t exclusively a feel-good situation. Kevin T. and Kevin J. are apprehensive about how open the townspeople are to the LGBTQ+ community. Muhumuza, an African man, fearfully tries to understand the situation without knowing English. Hannah waits by the phone, anxious for news about her son, a NYC firefighter. And Egyptian chef Ali is the target of budding fear-fueled Islamophobia. While not every story receives an explicit happy ending, Gander’s hospitality meant every visitor returned home with a new friend, as illustrated beautifully in the musical’s penultimate song “Something’s Missing.”
Vern Stefanic directed this production with a strong grasp on the musical’s pacing, ensuring all jokes landed and emotional moments resonated. With purposeful choreography by Kaley Jobe that guided the viewer’s eye right to the key action in some big musical numbers and a textured lighting design by Mal Lindsay that sharply isolated parts of the stage in a way I didn’t think possible in the Liddy, I didn’t have to think very hard about what I was watching. As songs shifted into scenes and back again, I felt comfortable putting my trust in this creative team to carry me through the story.
A seasoned ensemble made for a wealth of strong performances. Nash McQuarters never failed to make me laugh as jaded New Yorker Bob, and I was continuously impressed with Mike Minnick’s protean morphing among his four characters. Colten Hall and Robert Young had great rapport as Kevin J. and Kevin T., and any time Young stepped in to narrate the story, I found myself leaning in.
Watching Alisha Jones’ hope slowly crack as her character Hannah leaves voicemail after voicemail for her son was heartbreaking, culminating in a poignant rendition of “I Am Here.” Katie Egan’s take on “Me and the Sky” was equally moving, bringing the sold out audience to an applause. She also showed great dexterity shifting between her two characters, the headstrong Beverley and the school teacher Annette, who fantasizes about different men she encounters (props to Wesley Rice for gifting us with a sexy little Latin dance solo).
In the spirit of the show, the group moments were the strongest. You could see trust within this ensemble as they worked together to tell this story and execute the intense chair-ography that the musical is known for (as well as seamlessly stepping in to assist in the rare moments the configuration was slightly off). The cast was also vocally agile under the musical direction of Brenna McIntosh, bringing the score to life with masterful swells and pitch-perfect harmonies. “In the Bar/Heave Away” was deliriously energetic, my favorite moment in the show; “28 Hours/Wherever We Are” captured tight tension; and “Welcome to the Rock” opened the show with full-body chills.
In the song “Blankets and Bedding,” which details the moments immediately following news of the terrorist attack, the women of Gander sing: “I need something to do because I can’t watch the news anymore.” Twenty-five years later, when news of potential disaster is a constant and so much advocacy stays trapped in digital space, this town’s example came through stronger than ever. Knowing the truth behind the tale, it was emboldening to watch a group of individuals selflessly mobilize to help, and I left the theater remembering the best that human beings are capable of.
