Performing on Broadway 'surreal' experience for local Come From Away cast members
Petrina Bromley and Romano Di Nillo only cast members from Newfoundland and Labrador
The cast and crew of the musical Come From Away are settling in to their new home in New York City, but for cast members from the province where the musical is set the experience is still hard to believe.
"It's kind of the pinnacle of where you want to be," Petrina Bromley told the St. John's Morning Show. "People keep asking me to describe it but I don't have the words, because it's just surreal and incredible."
People keep asking me to describe it but I don't have the words.- Petrina Bromley
The musical, based on the response of Gander, Newfoundland during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, is currently in previews on Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, where it is scheduled to open to the public on March 12.
Bromley, one of two cast members actually from Newfoundland, said even after performing throughout Canada and the United States, nothing compares to the size and scale of New York.
Work in progress
Despite months of performances throughout North America, the cast and crew are still working out kinks before the official Broadway opening.
People can still go see Come From Away now during previews, but after each performance small tweaks are still being made to get things just right.
Bromley said while the reviews have been great in other cities they performed in, the Broadway audience is is a whole different thing.
"It's a different beast here in New York, the reviews really can make or break you," she said. "So we're a little anxious I guess to see what happens when reviews come out."
Romando Di Nillo, the second Newfoundlander in Come From Away, also finds he has to pinch himself when he thinks about being on Broadway in a show about his home province.
"It's hard to process all at once. I have a hard time believing that I'm on Broadway," he said. "The show has so much heart and so much love that you can't help but get caught up in it."