July is over! Whaaa?
Can you believe how quickly it whizzed by?
This month is shaping up to be
another busy one for yours truly.
First, there’s this:
I am honoured to be making three appearances during this Author Tour.
Getting to rub shoulders with the literary talent in our fair province is a huge part of the fun. Do drop by our libraries if you’re in Gander or Clarenville on these above dates, or if you’re in St. John’s for the Grand Finale. (More about the finale later)
I will also be busy with my two grandkids + one little friend, who are coming tomorrow for a week-long stay here on Perry’s Point.
And then there’s work on the new novel in between all of this, not to mention all those chances to soak up more summer.
FYI:
I’m running an Amazon Countdown Deal
for Calmer Secrets from
August 2nd to August 9th.
Score a Kindle copy
of this sequel to Calmer Girls
at a discount on Amazon.com
and Amazon.co.uk.
In September, I blogged about how excited I was to have tickets to a local showing in concert of Come From Away, a musical that is heading to Broadway in the new year. You can read that post here.
We attended the Gander show on Saturday afternoon, and it was INCREDIBLE!
Both shows in Gander on Saturday were sold out and received standing ovations.
Flawlessly executed.
Overflowing with energy, talent, and professionalism.
And generating such love and pride for the citizens of Gander and surrounding communities – who most certainly deserved it – it was truly a moving experience.
“The Come From Away musical was written to show the compassionate response by Newfoundlanders when air space closed over North America after the Twin Towers fell —diverting dozens of planes to Gander. The community took in more than 6,000 passengers for several days while planes were grounded.”– Local CBC story on Come From Away
Can you imagine if the population of your town had nearly doubled on 9/11?
The show tells the tale through the eyes of local mayors, residents, a pilot, and stranded passengers, 100 minutes of heartfelt musical numbers that show how Newfoundlanders went above and beyond with their own special brand of hospitality.
To paraphrase Canadian playwright Irene Sankoff, cowriter of the musical:
“Not only did the {citizens of Gander} let people off of the planes who were {strangers} to them, but they let them into their community buildings. They canceled school for the entire time that “the plane people” were there, devoting all of their energy to taking care of them.
They put them up in their schools and community buildings, and then began inviting people home for dinner, inviting them to stay the night, cleaning their clothes, and giving them anything that they could ask for over the time that they were stranded.“
Countless times during the show, we laughed out loud. And many other times we wiped away our tears. And boy, did we ever applaud! I had chills several times, and it had nothing to do with the fact we were in a hockey arena.
I could go on and on about it, but just let me say, if you have the opportunity to see the show in Toronto or New York, you should. I know I’m biased, being a Newfoundlander and all, but I think anyone would enjoy such a positive showing of humanity in the face of crisis and disaster. With all the negativity in the media these days, it was a welcome change.
The cherry on top? All proceeds from the Gander shows were donated to local charities.
The Love Story. On the left, the actors who played the real-life couple on the right, a woman from Texas and a man from England. They met during 9/11 in Gander, eventually married, and honeymooned back here in Newfoundland!At a special dinner held in Gander over the weekend, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Bruce Heyman, unveiled a new plaque thanking the people of this province.
I think our little province and its people made quite an impression on those affected that week. To illustrate, near the end of the show, one of the “plane people” from the U.S. told her new Gander friend that Newfoundlanders can’t tell knock-knock jokes.
“Why not?” her friend asked.
“Okay, I’ll be the Newfoundlander,” said the American. “You say knock knock.”
“Knock knock.”
“Come on in – the door is open!”
This is a shining example of Newfoundland hospitality and our way of life being brought to the Broadway stage. Did I mention I was proud?
Come-from-away or C.F.A.: a Newfoundland slang term for a traveler or anyone who is not from here; a non-Newfoundlander.
The musical “Come From Away” will be on Broadway next March, but Newfoundlanders have the chance to take in the show here at home for $20. We have our tickets and I can’t wait! We reserved them online here, but I don’t know how many tickets are left.
The musical, which tells the true tale of a group of travelers stranded in the little town of Gander, Newfoundland during 9/11, will honour the people of Newfoundland and Labrador by holding two concert performances of the new production at the Steele Community Centre in Gander on Oct. 29th, one at 3pm and one at 8pm. Another nice feature: all proceeds go to local charities.
Mirvish Productions gives us this synopsis:
“On September 11, 2001, 38 planes with 6,579 passengers were stranded in a remote town in Newfoundland. The locals opened their hearts and homes, and hosted this international community of strangers for a week — spurring unexpected camaraderie in extraordinary circumstances. When the world stopped, their stories moved us all.”
Local actress Petrina Bromley stars in both the Broadway and Toronto versions of Come From Away which was written by husband and wife team Irene Sankoff and David Hein.
Come From Away earned wonderful reviews in California and Washington, and will run in Toronto from November to January. March 12th is Opening Night on Broadway.
For the first time, I get to see a live show that will be on Broadway, and I only have to drive to Gander, our nearest urban centre (about 80 miles) to see it! I like that.
Jennifer's Journal 