Casting has been announced for Come From Away the Tony Award-winning musical which will land in London for its long-awaited UK premiere at the Phoenix Theatre next year. We were lucky enough to attend the launch event, here’s what our reviewer thought:
Come From Away is a multi-award winning musical making its European premiere in Dublin this December before sliding comfortably into the West End in late January 2019. I was at the official launch event at the gorgeous Canada House by Trafalgar Square, crammed full of industry types tucking into a Canadian-themed maple-syrup-heavy breakfast.
We were introduced to the bulk of the new cast, and they treated us to three songs from the show: a stirring, foot-stomping introductory song, “Welcome to the Rock”; a touching solo, “Me and the Sky”; and finally, “Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere”, a similarly rousing feel-good anthem that left everyone on a high. The musical tells the true story of the people of Gander, Newfoundland, who cared for and were hospitable to around 7,000 stranded air passengers whose flights were diverted to the tiny town in the aftermath of 9/11. It’s a fascinating story exploring kindness, friendship and community in the wake of a national crisis, and will make for a joyful and feel-good musical.
The songs on display here, though wordy and exposition-crammed, were wonderfully performed by a strong and diverse cast, with Rachel Tucker’s rendition of “Me and the Sky” the highlight of the three for its clear storytelling and emotional twist. This will be a popular show, telling a little known yet fascinating story that will inform, surprise and ultimately leave an audience tapping their feet, and wanting to get on down to Newfoundland to see what all the fuss is about. We look forward to its premiere in London next year.
The cast will be Jenna Boyd (Beulah and others), Nathanael Campbell (Bob and others), Clive Carter (Claude and others), Mary Doherty (Bonnie and others), Robert Hands (Nick, Doug and others), Helen Hobson (Diane and others), Jonathan Andrew Hume (Kevin J, Ali and others), Harry Morrison (Oz and others), Emma Salvo (Janice and others), David Shannon (Kevin T, Garth and others), Cat Simmons (Hannah and others) and Rachel Tucker (Beverley, Annette and others) with Mark Dugdale, Bob Harms, Kiara Jay, Kirsty Malpass, Tania Mathurin, Alexander McMorran, Brandon Lee Sears and Jennifer Tierney.
ComeFromAway features a book, music and lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein and is directed by Christopher Ashley, with musical staging by Kelly Devine, music supervision and arrangements by Ian Eisendrath, scenic design byBeowulf Boritt, costume design by Toni-Leslie James, lighting design by Howell Binkley, sound design by Gareth Owen, orchestrations by August Eriksmoen, and casting by Pippa Ailion CDG and Natalie Gallacher CDG.
Joseph Prestwich was at the Come From Away launch
Cast Photography by Helen Maybanks
Broadway Production Image by Matthew Murphy
COME FROM AWAY
Phoenix Theatre, London
previews from 30th January 2019 opening 18th February
“The punk ethic is there but not authentic enough to make us root for these supposed desperados”
There are many famous people who continue to live with us through their work, none of whom could have known how famous they would become posthumously. Artists such as Vincent Van Gogh and Johannes Vermeer, writers Franz Kafka, Edgar Allen Poe and John Keats, the Italian astronomer Galileo (who had to wait three centuries before his theories were accepted) and even J.S. Bach was little known in his own lifetime.
The creators of “Wasted”, the new musical at Southwark Playhouse, are adding the Brontë sisters to the canon, the title of which suggests that the three sisters and their often overlooked brother never achieved the recognition they sought nor found their true vocation. Hence, they believed their lives were ‘wasted’. We will never know if this was a real concern to the siblings two centuries ago, but the writers here drum home the imagined anxieties with a mixture of teenage angst and prophetic irony.
Part gig and part rock documentary, Christopher Ash’s music and Carl Miller’s book chart the struggles, frustrations and heartbreaks of Charlotte, Emily, Anne and their brother Branwell. A four-piece band form the backdrop while Libby Todd’s effective use of flight cases and sheet music create the set, reinforcing the rock theme. With hand held mics, the strong cast of four are the lead singers, imbued with a New Wave tension as they sing about being “stuck in this dump” and “we want to write”. The punk ethic is there but not authentic enough to make us root for these supposed desperados.
Although the narrative is often a touch too quaint to comfortably sit with the style of the songs, the cast do pull off the numbers with an anarchic self-possession. And you can detect a rock band’s politics permeating the foursome. Natasha Barnes’ Charlotte is pretty much the lead here; the strong contender in control, who goes onto a successful solo career. She does, after all, outlive her sisters. Siobhan Athwal gives Emily the tortured soul treatment; emotional and wayward while Molly Lynch, as Anne, is the quiet one who nevertheless is the one who comes across as the most interesting. Not to be outdone by this feminine trio, Matthew Jacobs Morgan holds his own and, even if historically Branwell fell by the wayside, Morgan certainly keeps up with the girls here.
All four sing exquisitely and they do wonders to shake off the dusty image of the Brontë family. The rock score reminds us how radical and visionary they were, yet the punch is weakened by stretching the point to its limit. And many of the songs are far too long, which does lessen the poignancy and the power of the material. Likewise, Adam Lenson’s dynamic direction is diluted in a show that does overrun its natural course. Some ruthless editing is needed for it to truly echo the characters who lived fast and died young.
