Oct. 26, 2025: "Come From Away" at Shea's 710

 


Amherst flubbed a big chance to give MusicalFare a new place to touch down after this first-class all-singing, all-dancing company had to abandon its home last spring at Daemen University. 

        Now they've made an emergency landing in downtown Buffalo in Shea's 710 Theatre and, just like for the passengers on the American Airlines flight in their debut production, "Come From Away," the new accommodations seem to be working out. 

        MusicalFare would have needed to stage at least half a dozen performances at Daemen to shoehorn in an audience the size of the one at Saturday night's show. The former Studio Arena is nearly full and it can hold 625. 

        It seems even more remarkable considering that "Come From Away" is probably not at the top of the list of must-sees for fans of Broadway musicals. It starts with an unpromising premise – the hopes and fears of disgruntled air travelers stranded in a remote corner of Canada by the lockdown after the 9/11 attacks. None of its songs are hits. Nominated for seven Tony Awards in 2017, it won just one, for direction. 

        Nevertheless, it had a big run in New York – 1,669 performances. And it's continually charming. Its staging is simple, but evocative of the plane and Gander, Newfoundland, where it landed. Its characters are quickly sketched, but poignant. 

        Taking dual roles and handling them adeptly is a cast of 12 that includes (just to name a couple) Alexandria Watts, who we witnessed a month ago down the street in the Irish Classical Theatre Company's Curtain Up! offering, "Or," and Steve Copps, who we see everywhere all the time, most recently as Montgomery in "Richard III" in Shakespeare in Delaware Park.  

        As we file out through the newly refurbished lobby, there at the piano in the lounge is musical director Theresa Quinn, who has magically rematerialized from the back of the stage to pound out a rollicking classic rock song, just like she did all the time at Daemen. Gee, it's starting to feel like home already. "Come From Away" continues for two more weeks, through Nov. 9.

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