Come From Away is one of my favourite musicals for many reasons. The storyline reflecting the amazingly welcoming attitude of the people of Gander and the surrounding towns in the aftermath of the awful tragedy of 9/11 is inspiring. The phrase “look to the helpers” is so relevant here and the musical by Irene Sankoff and David Hein captures the rollercoaster of emotions brilliantly.

Having been invited by LAOS to review their production of it I jumped at the chance and, along with my very good friend, headed over to Loughborough Town Hall hoping that I wasn’t going to be disappointed – and I wasn’t. It also feels poignant somehow that this is being performed over the 25th anniversary of the awful events that sparked this show.

This is the first time that I have seen the production without a revolve and I was intrigued as to how they were going to present it but it was lovely to see a show that draws from the original production whilst still making it their own. I particularly liked the idea of using suitcases as the plane seats giving it a slightly different feel from the re-using of the chairs. Very cleverly done I felt.

James Nelson’s Direction and Josh Hill’s musical direction led to a polished performance which had the audience’s emotions moving from laughter to goosebumps to tears at various points throughout the show. Weirdly, for me, the tears stung in different places this time from the other times I have watched Come From Away – especially when Bonnie (played perfectly buy Jenny Pilbeam) was talking to Unga – the rare Bonobo chimpanzee – about the stillbirth of Unga’s baby. That part has never quite grabbed me before but last night it absolutely hit me.

Come From Away has a cast of 13 who cover the roles of over 50 characters and they all filled their roles perfectly. Jo Dring’s rendition of “I am Here” had goosebumps up my arms within the first few notes and the heartbreaking emotions pouring from her were astounding. This was contrasted by the hilarious observations of Bob (Lewis Shaw) as he started to drop his New York based anxieties and relax – “I was no longer worried about my wallet” The blossoming relationship between Diane (Natalie Littlewood) and Nick (David Burton) was so believable and I loved the nod of the hat to the original show as they visited the Dover Fault. I had wondered how LAOS would do this without the revolve and I loved the way they did. For me my favourite songs in the show is “Prayer” and as soon as Kevin (James Daw) started singing it I was reminded why. The harmonies in it were amazing as I could hear each individual note in the chord and they were beautiful and spot on. The intermingling of the melodies from different religions has always made my heart skip a beat and the cast did this brilliantly.

Even though I have picked out a few specific cast members each and every one of the cast should be proud of what they have produced. The solos hit home as they should, the humour was measured and ‘just right’ and the fear and reactions to the events of 9/11 could be seen at every turn.

The entire cast and their vocal talents were a pleasure to watch and to listen to and it was a bit of a shame that there were a few technical faults near the beginning which would normally cause me to drop from a 5 star review to a 4 star review however, due to the beauty of the rest of the show I am only going to drop half a star because I absolutely would go and watch this production again if I had time this week (sadly I don’t)

I understand that tickets have been going well but I wholeheartedly recommend grabbing one if you are able. A wonderful story line told wonderfully. Well done all.

Ticket gifted for an honest review