Between Grounded Planes and Open Arms: Slow Burn’s Come From Away Gives Hope Its Wings
By Joanie Cox Henry
There is something quietly radical about a musical that makes feeding people, finding spare blankets and opening a front door feel as consequential as any grand heroic gesture. Come From Away, now onstage with Slow Burn Theatre Company, understands that sometimes the most important thing a person can do is make room for someone else.
Directed by Patrick Fitzwater, the production runs through October 25 at the Broward Center’s Amaturo Theater. Its arrival comes 25 years after the events that inspired it, but the questions at its heart remain painfully current: What do we owe a stranger? How do we respond when fear makes suspicion easier than trust?
With book, music and lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein, Come From Away follows the passengers whose planes were diverted to Gander, Newfoundland, after the September 11 attacks, and the residents who welcomed them. Thirty-eight aircraft brought thousands of people into a community suddenly tasked with meeting needs far beyond its usual daily life.
The premise sounds almost too large for a musical. Its strength lies in attending to the smaller stories within it.
These travelers have families to reach, information they cannot obtain and destinations that have abruptly become inaccessible. It's impossible not to find fragments of our own souls within each of these characters. Their hosts have meals to prepare and places to arrange for people to sleep. The practical business of getting through the day becomes the foundation for relationships neither group could have anticipated.
That attention to ordinary needs gives Come From Away its extraordinary emotional weight. Kindness here requires work. Someone has to cook. Another has to clean. Someone has to listen. Someone has to stay patient with a frightened person who cannot yet believe an offer of help comes without concrete conditions.
There is humor in this collision of personalities and circumstances, too. The musical allows room for awkward encounters, unexpected affection and the peculiar intimacy of people thrown together without warning and this cast pulls of that complex task brilliantly. Those moments of levity belong to the story. Even in the middle of a crisis, people remain funny, complicated and capable of surprising one another. This is the magic what Slowburn brings to the stage.
Slow Burn’s cast includes the wildly talented Kimberly Doreen Burns as Beverley & Others and the brilliant Justin Phillips as Bob & Others, two performers South Florida Concert News spoke with during an advance rehearsal.
Burns’ preparation for Captain Beverley Bass began with a longstanding connection to the musical and continued through studying interviews with the real pilot. That research matters in a work where the characters’ experiences extend beyond the theater. Beverley’s story brings professional ambition and a lifelong love of flying into contact with a day that changed aviation forever.
Phillips’ role as Bob offers another compelling perspective: the uncertainty of accepting extraordinary generosity when experience has taught you to be cautious. His own childhood memories of September 11 lend a personal connection to the material, while his enthusiasm for sharing the story recognizes that many younger audience members know these events only through history.
The company also features Irene Adjan as Diane, whose warmth lends an inviting humanity to the musical’s portrait of unexpected connection. Lee Hollis Bussie as Kevin J./Ali brings sensitivity to a story that asks audiences to consider how differently people experience the same crisis. Lindsey Corey as Bonnie beautifully represents the instinct to care for the vulnerable, reminding us that compassion reaches beyond the human passengers.
Kareema Khouri as Hannah gives the story’s emotional stakes a deeply human anchor, embodying the anguish of a mother desperate for news. Matthew W. Korinko as Claude provides a reassuring presence at the center of Gander’s extraordinary response, capturing the spirit of a community willing to shoulder the unimaginable together. Justin Anthony Long as Kevin T./Garth contributes charm and emotional generosity to the ensemble, enriching the musical’s balance of humor and vulnerability.
Kristi Rose Mills as Janice brings an appealing sense of discovery to a young reporter confronting a story far larger than anything she could have anticipated. Michael Dean Morgan as Nick/Doug adds warmth to the production’s exploration of connection, helping its quieter human encounters resonate. Brennan Stefanik as Oz contributes vitality and an engaging presence to the town’s collective portrait, while Laura Turnbull as Beulah brings a comforting humanity to a role that embodies the simple, profound power of looking after someone else.
Each principal track encompasses additional characters, and the ensemble deserves considerable praise for making this multitude of lives feel like a connected community. Alexander Blanco and Heather Simsay serve as swings, undertaking the demanding, essential work of supporting a production built on constant shifts in character and perspective. Their versatility deserves recognition alongside the company’s collective accomplishment.
That multiplicity is central to the musical’s perspective. No single person can contain this story. Its meaning emerges through the overlapping experiences of residents and visitors, people whose worries differ but whose lives become briefly, indelibly connected.
The creative team includes music director Allan Paglia, scenic designer Nikolas Serrano, lighting designer Eric Norbury and costume designer Rick Peña.
What makes Come From Away so affecting is its willingness to let hope coexist with unresolved grief. Hospitality cannot undo what happened. A meal cannot answer every anxious phone call. Yet care still matters to the person receiving it, and the musical gives that truth the attention it deserves.
For a world increasingly accustomed to arguments about who belongs, Gander’s response offers a moving example of what belonging can look like in practice. You arrive frightened and far from home. Someone learns your name. Someone finds you a place to sleep.
And for a little while, you have somewhere to land.
Slow Burn Theatre Company’s Come From Away runs October 10–25, 2026, at the Amaturo Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Avenue, Fort Lauderdale. Purchase tickets through the Broward Center’s official event page by selecting “Buy Tickets,” which links to Ticketmaster. An open-captioned performance is scheduled for Sunday, October 18, at 2 p.m. Student and teacher rush tickets are available in person at the box office with valid identification, subject to availability; the limit is two tickets per ID.
Comments