Come From Away - "fun, joyful, and heartwarming"
As I write this, I am resting up and preparing mind, body and soul for the final week of performances of this wonderful show. Yes, it takes a lot out of us to perform this every night. Switching between characters, fast paced scenes, emotional highs and lows, costume changing and chair-ography. But this show gives to me so much more than it takes.
Before finding out that I had won the role of Bonnie Harris in Pangdemonium's production of Come From Away I was already in love with this musical. I watched it by myself at a mid-week matinee in London some years ago, going off a recommendation from a friend. I arrived with no idea or expectation of what sort of show I would see.
I left with my heart cracked open, and my theatre senses tingling.
Come From Away portrays true stories from the people that lived it in Gander, Newfoundland in the days following the 9/11 attacks in America. Go back and read that review quote in the title of this blog - "fun, joyful and heartwarming". It is about light in the darkest of times. About kindness and giving to a stranger in need. About living now and not waiting for the right moment.
Honestly, I cried as I accepted this role from director Timothy Koh. I could not believe that this dream of a show was landing in my path. Working with this cast, crew and creative team in Singapore, my adopted home, has been deeply rewarding from an acting point of view. It tests us as performers and yet the script and music are so strong that it also holds us up. We know that this piece of theatre resonates and we just need to live inside it.
The audience response at each performance reminds me why it is so important to tell these stories about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. They cheer and celebrate for the characters, not the actors. And when the curtain falls for the last time on Sept 27 I know we have honoured their stories and I'll try to always carry their selfless spirit with me.
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