Analysis: It evokes strong memories of the tragedy for those who remember it, but offers little context to younger people for whom 9/11 is history not memory
Irene Sankoff and David Hein's Come From Away, which is coming to Dublin's Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in June, has become one of the most successful musicals of the last decade, with successful runs in Broadway and the West End and a slew of Tony and Laurence Olivier Awards to its name. The musical tells the story of the 38 passenger flights diverted to the small town of Gander, Newfoundland on September 11th 2001, gaining critical and popular success for its heart-warming portrayal of kindness and solidarity amidst the tragedy of the 9/11 attacks.
For audiences and many critics, the show is a guaranteed tear-jerker, particularly during heart-breaking songs like I Am Here and Lead Us Out Of The Night. But one thing critics and the show’s creators seem to overlook is that there will be two very different types of people at the performance in the Bord Gáis next June: people who remember where they were on 9/11, and people who are too young to remember. Does the musical speak to these to groups in different ways?
Trailer for Apple TV's screening of Come From Away from the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater on Broadway
During one scene, the audience sees a group of the passengers, weary from spending hours quarantined in their diverted planes, reacting to the tragic events of that day upon seeing a television for the first time, though the images are not shown to the audiences. According to David Hein, 'you don't see what they're seeing but everyone in the audience has their own version of what they’re seeing.’
While this may have been true when he co-wrote the show with his wife Sankoff over a decade ago, it is no longer true today. There are people who were not alive on September 11, 2001 who turn 23 this year. I myself have no memory of the events of 9/11 as they occurred when I was four years old. My knowledge of the attack has been coloured by two decades of pictures, documentaries, YouTube videos, memes and representations in popular culture like Family Guy and South Park.
With the exception of the few scenes featuring the grieving mother Hannah, Come From Away purposely avoids engaging directly with the grief and loss of that day. Instead, it focuses on the logistical challenges of a small town experiencing the sudden doubling of its population and the welcoming spirit of the local community. This flurry of crisis management is peppered with fleeting moments of reflection, evoking strong memories of the tragedy of that day for those who experienced it, but offering very little context to audience members for whom 9/11 is history not memory.
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From RTÉ Radio 1, interview with David Hein and Irene Sankoff about Come From Away
Contextualising history is an unusual task for the musical-writer, but not an unprecedented one. Stephen Sondheim's Assassins tells the story of famous presidential assassinations and assassination attempts throughout the history of the United States through satire and dark humour. After a series of comedic and silly songs like How I Saved Roosevelt and Gun Song, there is a sudden shift in tone with the song Something Just Broke. Members of the cast emerge as regular citizens from throughout history, recalling the moment they heard the earth-shattering news that the most powerful person in the country had been shot: ‘I remember where I was, just exactly where I was … Where I was, what I was doing … I’ll remember it forever.’
Understanding that no one in the audience would have a memory of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Sondheim created this song to give the audience the perspective of regular people, just like them. The stark contrast in tone forces the audience to reflect on the fact that they were just moments ago laughing about something that forever changed the world for people at that time, making the event no longer historical, but current. The audience is no longer being told about the event; they are living it.
By choosing not to dwell on the tragedy of that day, Come From Away falls into the trap of whitewashing the very pain and suffering that it seeks to ameliorate through its uplifting story. This is the natural response to a crisis, compartmentalising the sadness and the grief for the purpose of focusing on crisis-management and problem-solving. Unfortunately, this atmosphere transfers to the audience. Without a common emotional understanding, they only get a sense for the practical and logistical nightmare of September 11th, rather than the human tragedy of the attack.
From NPR Tiny Desk Concert, performance by cast of the Broadway production of Come From Away
Establishing a common emotional framework for the audience will become more necessary with time, not only as the post-9/11 generation grows in number, but also as the events of the day fade from recent memory into history, and the disparity between the rememberings of that day from person to person become more fractured. In order to widen its accessibility, it may be necessary to revise the show and add a musical number for future performances. This is not an unusual practice, in fact, Sondheim added Something Just Broke to the 1992 London production of Assassins, which was not included in the first performance.
The arts have always played a vital role in the preservation of history. As the number of survivors of the Holocaust declines each year, music, literature, film, and poetry have cemented their stories into our shared historical imagination. This will soon be required for September 11th 2001 also. During its recent run in London's Phoenix Theatre, Come From Away featured the subtitle 'A New Musical’ glowing in neon lights. The question of its impact on this ever-growing post-9/11 generation will determine whether or not it will become a lasting musical.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
