Come From Away has no single lead. Twelve actors play the people of Gander, Newfoundland, and the roughly 7,000 airline passengers stranded there after September 11, 2001, switching between locals and “plane people” with a jacket or a hat. The best-known characters are Captain Beverley Bass, Mayor Claude Elliott, the SPCA’s Bonnie, schoolteacher Beulah and her friend Hannah, the two Kevins, and the unlikely couple Nick and Diane.
The musical has book, music and lyrics by the Canadian husband-and-wife team Irene Sankoff and David Hein, and Christopher Ashley directs. It opened on Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on March 12, 2017 (Playbill), and closed on October 2, 2022, after 1,669 regular performances, the longest run in that theatre’s history (IBDB, Playbill). Ashley won the 2017 Tony for Best Direction of a Musical (BroadwayWorld), and the London production won the 2019 Olivier for Best New Musical (Music Theatre International).
The story is true. In 2011, Sankoff and Hein went to Gander for the tenth anniversary and interviewed locals and returning passengers (American Airlines Newsroom, BroadwayWorld). Some characters carry real names; others are composites of several people. We stick to what the show and its sources say, and we flag the composites.
How does the casting work in Come From Away?
The show was written for a cast of 12, with every actor playing several roles, and the script assigns lines by track number rather than by character (Music Theatre International). Each track is billed by its main character “and others.” A typical breakdown looks like this (Wikipedia, third check):
| Track | Main character | Also plays | Key song(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beverley & others | Captain Beverley Bass, pilot | Annette, a local teacher | “Me and the Sky” |
| Claude & others | Claude Elliott, mayor of Gander | Townspeople | “Screech In” |
| Bonnie & others | Bonnie Harris, Gander SPCA | Passengers | Company numbers |
| Beulah & others | Beulah, schoolteacher and organizer | Passengers | Company numbers |
| Hannah & others | Hannah O’Rourke, mother of a New York firefighter | Townspeople | “I Am Here” |
| Oz & others | Oz Fudge, town constable | Passengers | Company numbers |
| Janice & others | Janice, a brand-new TV reporter | Passengers | Company numbers |
| Kevin T. & others | Kevin Tuerff, passenger | Garth, bus drivers’ union leader | “Prayer” |
| Kevin J. & others | Kevin Jung, Kevin T.’s partner | Ali, a Muslim passenger | “Costume Party” |
| Nick & others | Nick Marson, English passenger | Doug, Bonnie’s husband | “Stop the World” |
| Diane & others | Diane, Texan passenger | Townspeople | “Stop the World” |
| Bob & others | Bob, a wary New Yorker | Townspeople | Company numbers |
Licensed productions may also use a larger cast and give each role to its own actor, and the writers allow extra townspeople and passengers in the ensemble (MTI).
Who are the Gander locals?
Claude Elliott, the mayor
Claude is the real mayor of Gander, who held the job from 1996 to 2017 and organized the town’s emergency response when the planes came down (CBC News, The Guardian). On stage he is practical, funny and a little overwhelmed, and his first problem is very local: the bus drivers are on strike, and he needs buses. He talks the union into a truce so passengers can be moved (Official London Theatre). Late in the show, when tempers fray, he leads “Screech In,” the comic ceremony that turns visitors into honorary Newfoundlanders.
Bonnie Harris, the animal rescuer
Bonnie runs the Gander SPCA, and while everyone else worries about the passengers, she worries about the animals still in the cargo holds. The real Bonnie Harris and her helpers spent hours on the grounded planes caring for dogs, cats and two rare bonobo chimpanzees (Official London Theatre; Guthrie Theater play guide). The actor who plays her also takes passenger roles through the evening, and Bonnie’s husband, Doug, an air traffic controller, is played by the Nick actor.
Beulah, the heart of the school shelter
Beulah is a teacher who turns the local school into a shelter. The character draws on the real Beulah Cooper, who made sandwiches, opened her home for showers and took strangers clothes shopping that week (CBC News). Her most important friendship is with Hannah, a passenger who cannot reach her firefighter son; Beulah, whose own son is a volunteer firefighter, sits with her and refuses to leave her alone (Official London Theatre).
Oz Fudge, the constable
Oz is one of Gander’s small police force, more likely to give a warning than a ticket. He is the comic straight man to the chaos, watching his town fill up as plane after plane lands. The real Oswald Fudge served the town for 30 years and, during the stay, helped throw a party for children from England whose Make-A-Wish trip to Disney World had been diverted (CBC News, Guthrie play guide).
Janice, the rookie reporter
September 11 is Janice’s first day on the job at local TV, and she has to cover the biggest story the town has ever seen. She is a composite of two real journalists, newspaper reporter Janice Goudie and Rogers TV’s Brian Mosher (Guthrie play guide, CBC News). Through her eyes, the audience sees the town mobilize.
Annette and Garth
Two smaller locals are doubled with passengers. Annette, a teacher, is played by the Beverley actor and helps Beulah ready the school. Garth, head of the bus drivers’ union, is played by the Kevin T. actor (Guthrie play guide; Wikipedia).
Who are the “plane people”?
Captain Beverley Bass
Beverley is the American Airlines captain flying a Boeing 777 from Paris to Dallas-Fort Worth when US airspace closes; her plane became the 36th of the 38 to land in Gander (American Airlines Newsroom). The real Bass became the airline’s first female captain in 1986 and later led the first all-female crew in commercial jet aviation (TCU Magazine, Official London Theatre).
Her big song, “Me and the Sky,” walks through her whole career in about four minutes: the childhood obsession with flying, the doors that stayed shut to women, and what September 11 took from the thing she loved. American Airlines says the song is nearly verbatim from her four-hour interview with the writers (American Airlines Newsroom). Jenn Colella, the original Broadway Beverley, earned a Tony nomination for the role. The same actor also plays Annette.
Hannah O’Rourke
Hannah is a New Yorker whose son Kevin is a firefighter in the city, and she spends the week trying to get through to him. Her solo, “I Am Here,” is the quietest moment in a busy show: a mother who can only wait. The real Hannah O’Rourke’s son was killed while responding to the attack on the towers (CBC News, Guthrie play guide), and her friendship with Beulah is one of the show’s emotional anchors.
Kevin T. and Kevin J.
The two Kevins are a gay couple, both named Kevin, flying home when their plane is diverted (Official London Theatre). Kevin T., based on Kevin Tuerff, throws himself into Newfoundland life. He leads “Prayer,” where the passengers’ different faiths overlap in one song, and he joins the Screech In. Kevin J., based on his partner Kevin Jung, is warier and funnier, and less sure about being so far from home in a small town. The real couple later parted amicably (Guthrie play guide), and the show is honest that the week strains them.
Ali
The actor who plays Kevin J. also plays Ali, a Muslim passenger who meets suspicion from other travelers in the tense days after the attacks (NBC New York review, Wikipedia). It is a short track, but it keeps the show from being only a feel-good story: kindness and fear sit side by side that week.
Nick and Diane
Nick is an English oil engineer and Diane a Texan divorcee who end up on the same plane and in the same shelter in the nearby town of Gambo. The real Nick Marson and Diane Kirschke met there, married in 2002 and honeymooned in Newfoundland (Ottawa Citizen, The Guardian). Their duet, “Stop the World,” is the show’s love song, two middle-aged strangers wishing the week could last a little longer. Diane is also one of the voices in “Costume Party” (IBDB).
Bob
Bob is a hardened New Yorker who arrives expecting the worst of everyone and keeps being thrown by how readily the town trusts him. His arc is the show’s thesis in miniature: suspicion melting into trust. He is not tied to a single named real person in the show’s published guides (Guthrie play guide).
Want to play these songs yourself? Come From Away’s score is built on Celtic folk rhythms and simple, driving chord patterns, which makes songs like “Welcome to the Rock” fun piano practice. Try Pianoforall.
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Why does Come From Away work without a star?
The doubling is the point. When the same actor plays a nervous passenger in one scene and the local who reassures him in the next, the show makes its argument without speeches: on that week, the line between host and guest blurred. The single act with no intermission and the onstage band keep it moving like a kitchen party. If you love ensemble storytelling, see our Hamilton songs explained guide, or our Les Misérables songs explained guide for another show whose crowd is as important as its leads. For a smaller story about ordinary people, try our Waitress songs explained.
Sources: Playbill; IBDB; Music Theatre International; American Airlines Newsroom; CBC News; Official London Theatre; Guthrie Theater play guide; Wikipedia (third check).
Frequently asked questions
Who is the main character in Come From Away?
There isn’t one. Come From Away is an ensemble show in which 12 actors share the story equally, each playing a main character plus several others. Captain Beverley Bass has the best-known solo, “Me and the Sky,” but the mayor, the locals and the passengers all get comparable stage time.
Are the characters in Come From Away real people?
Many are. Beverley Bass, Claude Elliott, Bonnie Harris, Oz Fudge, Kevin Tuerff, Hannah O’Rourke, and Nick and Diane Marson are based on real people the writers interviewed. Others, such as Janice and Beulah, combine several real people, and some smaller roles are invented from the stories the writers gathered.
How many actors are in Come From Away?
The show was written for 12 actors, six women and six men, with each playing multiple roles. Licensed productions are allowed to use a bigger cast and give roles to separate actors, and to add townspeople and passengers.
Do Nick and Diane get married?
Yes. The real Nick Marson and Diane Kirschke met while stranded near Gander, married in 2002 and honeymooned in Newfoundland. The show’s closing scene, set ten years later, reflects that.
Is there a filmed version of Come From Away?
Yes. A filmed stage performance, shot at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in 2021 with members of the Broadway company, was released on September 10, 2021, the eve of the 20th anniversary, and streams on Apple TV+.
