50 Fun Facts About Come From Away

To become honorary Newfoundlanders in Come From Away's bar scene, stranded passengers must kiss which kind of fish?

A cod, often a frozen one, is held up to each newcomer's lips in the real screech-in ceremony. Only a native Newfoundlander can officiate at a proper one.

In Come From Away, Gander's Claude is sitting in which Canadian coffee chain when he first hears of the 9/11 attacks?

Tim Hortons, the chain a hockey player co-founded in Ontario, is where the news reaches Claude. Newcomer Janice is the one who brings it to him.

In Come From Away, which rare apes do Bonnie and her husband Doug discover in the hold of a grounded plane?

Bonobos, two of them, were the rarest animals stranded in the holds, alongside pets including an epileptic cat with its medicine strapped to its crate.

In Come From Away, what becomes of passengers Nick and Diane after meeting while stranded in Gander?

They got married, and the finale brings the couple back to Gander for a reunion ten years on. The real Nick and Diane met on a diverted flight and slept in the same shelter.

Which streaming service released the filmed stage version of Come From Away a day before 9/11's twentieth anniversary?

Apple TV+ bought the film in April 2021, weeks before it was shot on Broadway in front of an invited audience of 9/11 survivors and frontline workers.

Beverley Bass, the pilot whose story is told in Come From Away, was the first female captain at which airline?

American Airlines hired her in 1976 as only its third female pilot and made her a captain ten years later. That same year she led its first all-female crew.

Which Canadian prime minister gave a speech from the stage before a Broadway performance of Come From Away?

Justin Trudeau addressed the audience on March 15, 2017, three days after opening night. Jean Chrétien, in office when the planes landed, had praised Gander at an anniversary service there in 2002.

In Come From Away, the gay couple stranded in Gander with Nick and Diane both answer to which first name?

Kevin is the name both men share, so the script tells them apart as Kevin T. and Kevin J. The strain of the week pulls their relationship apart by the end of the show.

Screech, the drink downed before kissing a fish in Come From Away's bar scene, is which kind of spirit?

Rum from Jamaica goes into every bottle of Newfoundland Screech. The name began as slang for almost any cheap, strong liquor, moonshine included.

In Come From Away, stranded passenger Hannah spends days trying to phone her son, who works in New York as what?

Firefighter is the job that fills Hannah with dread, and it bonds her to a Gander local whose own son does the same work. The real Hannah's son was killed responding to the attacks.

In Come From Away, Claude runs Gander's emergency response to the stranded planes while holding which local post?

Mayor was the office the real Claude Elliott held for years, and he watched himself on stage five times before the Broadway opening. He says the show speaks for the whole town.

In Come From Away, which striking workers agree to pause their dispute so stranded passengers can leave the airport?

Bus drivers were mid-strike when the planes landed, leaving thousands with no way off the airfield. Claude agrees a truce with their union leader, Garth, to get people moving.

In Newfoundland speech, the phrase that gives Come From Away its title is a label for what kind of person?

An outsider, meaning any non-Newfoundlander, is a come from away to islanders. The screech-in ceremony exists to turn one into an honorary local.

Before long-range jets arrived, airliners crossing the Atlantic routinely landed at Gander's airport to do what?

To take on fuel, airliners used Gander because it sits close to the shortest route between New York and London. Longer-range jets ended most of those stops in the 1960s.

Come From Away was nominated for the 2017 Tony Award for Best Musical but lost to which show about an anxious teenager?

Dear Evan Hansen won six Tonys that night, more than any other production. Come From Away took home one of the seven it was up for.

Which opening number of Come From Away introduces the people of Gander on the morning of September 11, 2001?

Welcome to the Rock takes its title from the nickname of the island of Newfoundland. The townspeople describe everyday life there, then hear of the attacks over the radio.

In which Come From Away song does pilot Beverley look back on her career and the barriers she broke?

Me and the Sky is drawn entirely from the real Beverley Bass's life story. The stage character around it also borrows moments from other pilots grounded at Gander.

In Come From Away, Diane, who meets Englishman Nick while stranded in Gander, is flying home to which US state?

Texas was home for the real Diane too. She and Nick were on the same flight from London and were billeted together in a fishermen's hall outside Gander.

In Come From Away, Beulah and Annette ready which kind of building, their own workplace, to shelter stranded passengers?

A school is where the two teachers work, so they turn it into a shelter. Across the real Gander area, homes, churches and halls were opened to travellers in the same way.

Gander locals in Come From Away, like their real counterparts, gave the stranded passengers which collective nickname?

Plane people is what the town called its unexpected guests. About 6,600 passengers and crew had landed in a place with fewer than 10,000 residents.

Plans to shoot a feature film of Come From Away on location in Gander were scrapped because of what?

The pandemic ended that plan, so the producers filmed the stage show itself instead, giving work to more than 200 theatre and film people while Broadway was dark.

In Come From Away, wary passenger Bob is sent into Gander backyards to collect what for a community cookout?

Grills are what Bob is told to take without asking, and he fully expects to be shot as a thief. Every homeowner he meets turns out to be friendly and glad to help.

Which Canadian husband-and-wife duo wrote the book, music and lyrics of Come From Away after interviews in Gander?

Sankoff and Hein spent almost a month in Gander around the tenth anniversary of the attacks, and came home with more true stories than one show could hold.

In Come From Away, Janice is brand new to which job in Gander on the morning the planes begin to land?

Reporter Janice blends two real Gander broadcasters. One of them went five days without sleep while fronting a dozen live shows on the local cable channel.

Beverley Bass was flying a Boeing 777 from which European city when US airspace closed on September 11, 2001?

Paris was her starting point. Her jet then sat on the Gander tarmac for 28 hours before anyone could get off, a wait the show turns into a song.

Which director won Come From Away its only Tony Award in 2017 and later filmed the stage show for streaming?

Christopher Ashley won for his direction on a night when the show lost in its six other categories. He had first staged it in California two years earlier.

Which actress earned a Tony nomination for playing pilot Beverley Bass in the original Broadway cast of Come From Away?

Jenn Colella created the part at the first California staging in 2015 and stayed with it on Broadway for two and a half years, doubling as Gander local Annette.

Canada's effort to land hundreds of diverted flights on 9/11, including those sent to Gander, had which operation name?

Yellow Ribbon brought between 225 and 240 aircraft down at 17 Canadian airports. It also marked the first time Canada had ever shut its own airspace.

The London production of Come From Away was named Best New Musical in 2019 at which British stage honours?

Olivier Awards judges also honoured the show's music, sound design and choreography, a far bigger haul than its single win at the Tonys.

Which Canadian airport was the only one to take in more diverted flights than Gander on September 11, 2001?

Halifax took in the most flights of any Canadian airport, though Gander is by far the smaller place. Planes from Europe were steered away from Toronto and Montreal as a security measure.

Gander's airport earned which grand nickname as a vital stopover for flights between Europe and North America?

Crossroads of the World suited an airfield that, within a few years of opening in 1938, had four runways and was the largest airport on Earth.

Most streets in Gander, the town at the heart of Come From Away, are named after which kind of people?

Aviators such as Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh and Chuck Yeager lend their names to Gander's streets, a nod to the airport the town grew up around.

Which airline named one of its Airbus A340 jets after Gander in thanks for the town's care of its 9/11 passengers?

Lufthansa gave the aircraft a double name, pairing Gander with the other Canadian city that had sheltered its diverted travellers.

Which Washington, D.C. venue staged Come From Away in autumn 2016, its last US stop before Toronto and Broadway?

Ford's Theatre extended the run by a week, and the production went on to win four Helen Hayes Awards, among them Outstanding Production.

Which Broadway venue was home to Come From Away for its whole New York run and for the 2021 filming?

Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre audiences saw 1,669 regular performances, enough to make the show the longest-running Canadian musical in Broadway history.

Which US agency closed the country's airspace on September 11, 2001, forcing 38 airliners to land at Gander?

The FAA gave the order through Ben Sliney, who was working his very first day as its national operations manager.

Oz Fudge, the real Gander constable seen in Come From Away, threw a party for stranded sick children bound for where?

Disney World was where a planeload of ill children from England had been heading, so friends of Fudge's daughter dressed up as fairytale princesses for them.

Which Come From Away duet do Nick and Diane sing on a walk as they realise they will miss each other?

Stop the World comes when the flights are delayed yet again, which gives the pair one last walk around town before they have to part.

Which Come From Away solo does Hannah sing while waiting helplessly for word of her son in New York?

I Am Here is the one number in the show given to a single voice. The real Hannah spent her days in Gander calling her son's voicemail and waiting beside the telephone.

What did the real Beverley Bass hand to the actress playing her in Come From Away before the Broadway run?

Her flight jacket came with the wings and service pin she had on that September 11, a gift made on closing night of the Seattle tryout.

Which California theatre, founded by Gregory Peck, gave Come From Away its first professional production in 2015?

La Jolla Playhouse extended the run twice, and the staging went on to win six Craig Noel Awards before the company moved north to Seattle.

Which Toronto venue, built in 1907, saw Come From Away sell out its whole pre-Broadway run within two weeks?

Royal Alexandra Theatre staff squeezed in 16 extra seats and an extra performance to meet demand, and one week's sales set a house record of $1.7 million.

Michael Rubinoff, who conceived Come From Away and pitched it to its writers, practised which profession in Toronto?

Lawyer Rubinoff worked mainly in commercial real estate, and several writers turned his idea down before he found a couple willing to take it on.

Which Ontario institution staged the first workshop of Come From Away in 2012 and a student production a year later?

Sheridan College made it the very first show developed by its Canadian Music Theatre Project, beginning with a version that ran just 45 minutes.

Which West End venue housed the London run of Come From Away, which lasted for more than 1,000 performances?

Phoenix Theatre audiences first saw the show in January 2019, and it stayed until January 2023 despite a 17-month closure in the middle.

The all-Canadian company of Come From Away sold out a four-week run in which prairie city before settling in Toronto?

Winnipeg bought every ticket before the first performance in January 2018. The same company then earned back its costs in Toronto within 14 weeks.

The real Nick and Diane of Come From Away were sheltered in a fishermen's hall in which town outside Gander?

Gambo, about 30 miles from Gander, put the pair up for four days at its Society of United Fishermen hall, where they spent their evenings with the locals.

Junkyard Dog Productions optioned Come From Away after producing which Tony-winning musical about a 1950s radio DJ?

Memphis had won the 2010 Tony for Best Musical. Its producers spotted Come From Away at a New York showcase for new musicals in 2013 and took it on.

Which choreographer shaped the movement of Come From Away from its California premiere through to Broadway and London?

Kelly Devine was Tony-nominated for the show in New York, then won London's top choreography prize for the West End staging two years later.

In September 2021, where in Washington did members of the Come From Away company give a free concert marking 9/11?

Lincoln Memorial visitors heard the show for free while its Broadway home was still closed, shortly before performances there resumed after a year and a half.