This evening The Musical Theatre Company transported us to Gander and treated us to the emotional true story of 7000 people who were diverted to Gander, Newfoundland on September 11th 2001, when the world stopped and lives were changed forever. TMTC are one of the first amateur companies to get the rights to Come From Away and they put everything into telling this story with as much truth and emotion as humanly possible.
With Direction from Ben Ireson, Musical Direction from Michael J Scott and Choreography from Ceris Shadwell, you can feel that they’ve thrown all they have in to this story and along with the incredibly talented cast and the on stage band, you become lost in this world and go from laughing to crying within seconds.
Come From Away is a complete ensemble piece with the cast playing numerous roles each from plane people to Gander residents and everything in between.
The set is simple, very reminiscent of the London set with the band on stage either side and the cast spend the show masterfully moving chairs and tables to transport us from place to place, directed and choreographed to perfection. Huge congratulations to all for making this mammoth task look so natural.
Choreography was simple, delivered to a high standard to compliment the story and incredible songs.
The music and songs in Come From Away are beautiful and this cast delivered them with so much conviction and emotion, that you could feel yourself leaning forward to be even more immersed.
Sound was brilliant, both from cast and the band. The mix was perfect so every word could be heard and the stunning music could shine through when it needed to. Lighting for the most was very good and effective but as with many an opening night, there were a fair few missed or late cues which did occasionally take me out of the story for a few seconds, something which I’m sure will be sorted and much slicker for the rest of the run.
The whole cast were just wonderful and worked so well together which is so important in such a big ensemble piece. There were a few stand out performances for me from James Radhi who was hilarious as Kevin J but gave so much emotion as Ali, Jonathan Hall as Nick was just a masterpiece and Keisha Golden as Bob was fantastic, delivering some fantastically dry comedy. Not to mention Hannah Young’s incredible Me and the Sky and the beautifully emotional The Prayer, led by Joel Merry where the vocals were stunning and the storytelling throughout left me extremely emotional.
I must take a moment to congratulate the whole cast and company for their professionalism during their show stop to deal with a medical emergency and how they reset and carried on the show with just as much emotion and conviction.
A huge thank you to everyone at TMTC for a wonderful evening and for looking after us so well from the minute we entered until the second we left, it is very much appreciated.
Come From Away runs until Saturday 25th October with tickets available at www.themusicaltheatrecompany.org.uk
Reviewer: Damian Riverol
Reviewed: 22nd October 2025
North West End UK Rating:
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