Toronto cast of Come From Away visits the place it all began
Performers met with people behind the stories
The cast of Toronto's Come From Away production is back in the rooms where the stories happened — touring in central Newfoundland on Monday.
The performers in the Mirvish Productions version of Come From Away are ending their visit to the province with stops in Gander and in Appleton.
They just finished a series of concerts at the Holy Heart of Mary Theatre in St. John's.
The group met with former Appleton mayor Derm Flynn and former Gander mayor Claude Elliott on Monday, as well as some other central Newfoundland locals who inspired some of the characters in the show.
"I just met a gentleman, I play one of the air traffic controllers in the play, as my Newfoundland character, and [it was] phenomenal to meet him and actually see him in person and how he moves and how he speaks," said James Kall, who plays the characters Nick and Doug in the Toronto musical.
Kall said he hopes to take some of that personal experience back to the stage in Toronto. Rehearsals resume for the performers on Thursday, and the shows open on Feb. 5.
"If it's possible, [the stories] even more emotionally overwhelming than they were when we first heard," he said. "To now be in the places where these events took place, it is quite humbling but also very rewarding and heart warming to meet these people who sacrificed everything for the come from aways."
Barbara Fulton, who plays Diane, agreed.
"We are on stage with very, very minimal set, we have two tables and thirteen chairs. And to be in the buildings where a lot of the meetings that we are — more or less, very very truncated, but we're portraying … that for me is what I'm going to bring back."
With files from Garrett Barry