American Theatre recently checked in with the writers and director of Fest ’13 show Come From Away, currently in its second production at Seattle Repertory Theatre. James Hebert writes:
By the time Come From Away debuted in La Jolla in June, it was a streamlined, propulsive show that did admirable justice to the full saga in not much more than that same 90-minute time span. The musical’s cast gets a major workout, playing the visitors as well as the townspeople and numerous other characters […]
The show also moves briskly to Kelly Devine’s quick-shifting choreography, driven by one of the most distinctive musical theatre scores in memory. Sankoff and Hein’s score draws deeply from the music of Newfoundland, for a blend of Celtic, folk, and country-rock, played on such non-standard pit instruments as bodhrans, Irish bouzoukis, and uilleann pipes.
It’s a sound that feels very rooted in the place it sprang from, which adds to the sense of a strange new world these displaced passengers are encountering as they venture into the town and interact with the locals. Director Christopher Ashley, also the Playhouse’s artistic director, said that enhancing the feeling of both wonder and apprehension has been a chief goal as Come From Away has made its latest journey from La Jolla to Seattle. (The two theatres are coproducers .)
Read the whole story at americantheatre.com.