A Broadway musical inspired by events following the Sept. 11 attacks is about to resume performances after a COVID-19 pandemic pause.
“Come From Away” is based on a true story of a community welcoming strangers who were left stranded after the attacks.
The cast from show has been rehearsing for the return as the world prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks.
“I come from a community where we lost a good number of people to the towers,” says cast member Caesar Samayoa. "It's still really upsetting to talk about. But yeah our community very much lost fathers and mothers and sons and daughters."
“Come From Away” tells the story of the small Canadian town of Gander in Newfoundland. It is where 38 planes were forced to land on the day of the attack. The cast is playing many real people from the town who took in the stranded airline passengers for days.
Cast member Emily Walton grew up in the Bronx and has clear memories of the day of the attack.
“My uncle who’s in the show, playing Nick. Jim Walton is my dad’s brother. He’s in this production. He and I spent time together on that day, 9/11. So there’s also something very full-circle about doing this show with him,” Walton says.
De'Lon Grant was a high school student in the Midwest when the attack occurred. Now a New York actor, he says he sees the impact of those events and of the show in a different light.
“Not only responsibility with telling this story, but also realizing that people were in the middle of it and couldn’t escape it here in the city,” Grant says.
“Come From Away” reopens on Sept. 21. A filmed performance of the show will air Friday on Apple+, the eve of the 20th anniversary of the attacks.