"Come From Away" by LAOS.

Loughborough Town Hall.

This show shares the real-life story of the 7,000 air passengers from all over the world who were grounded in Canada during the wake of 9/11, and the small Newfoundland town of Gander community that invited these "come from aways" into their lives with open hearts.

The comedy is so gentle and in abundance, balancing well with the obvious confusion and terror from the passengers who had no idea what was happening and the reason for their flights' diversions. There's emergency panic from the townsfolk who had no idea as to how many people to expect and where they were going to put them up, or how to feed them.

The feeling of comradery though becomes infectious with even Walmart staff offering them to come home with them for a shower!! Can you imagine that being offered by an Asda employee? (other supermarkets are available of course).

Strangers become friends, and friends become lifelong friends, some even staying in the town, and some become even closer friends. But of course, there's those who lost family and friends because of what happened on September 11 2001, and they are also remembered.

Many of the stories related were not known about until this musical, let's face it the pregnant Bonobo monkey or the cat who was on tablets didn't make front page news, but is equally as interesting to hear about, as well as Bonnie Harris who realised that there would have been animals on the planes and, as she worked in an animal shelter, made it her job to go looking for them, and caring for them.

The stories of the local news reporter, who had just started working for the TV company, the Mayor Claude Elliott, the Police Officer, the female flight staff, as well as the passengers, some of which didn't speak English and had specific dietary needs, the party of children who were travelling over as part of the "Make A Wish" foundation, so many different people of different ages and religions, all scared and unaware of the horrors that were unfolding on that day.

It also depicts how in a situation like this, people can also become very wary of some people and treat them very differently, especially if they are Middle Eastern, the horror and embarrassment of a strip search before they let him on the plane told in such a way that you almost feel ashamed for what he had been put through, just because of his religion.

There's also the story of the gay couple, Kevin and Kevin, who didn't want to reveal their relationship for fear of a backlash, and the Jewish man who discovered that one of the Gander residents was also Jewish, but had never revealed that fact.

There are so many wonderful human stories that are woven into this wonderful comfort blanket of life happenings, all bought about by such a sad turn of events by such evil forces. The resilience and love though won through.

This show is truly an ensemble piece of theatre that was non stop; there was only a couple of places that the audience could actually manage to interject with applause, but, as I've seen every time that I've had the pleasure of seeing this wonderful piece of theatre, the audience make up for it at the end of the show!

The cast are made up of Andrew Bond (Ali), Laura Kidger (Beulah), Helena Stone (Beverley), Lewis Shaw (Bob), Jenny Pilbeam (Bonnie), Mark Chinnery (Claude), Natalie Littlewood (Diane), Jo Dring (Hannah), Freya Lakin (Janice), Jack Cooling (Kevin J), James Daw (Kevin T), David Burton (Nick), and Sam Tebbatt (Oz). The cast, while playing the aforementioned main roles, also take on other roles throughout the story.

Individually all talented singers, as an Ensemble they have the power.

Clare Proctor, Linda, Matt, Gemma and Ian, the "Swings", were on hand, just in case needed. Tonight they weren't. "Swings", as I've mentioned in other reviews, are cast members who know all of the roles between them and are ready to leap into action should required.

Directed and Choreographed by James Nelson. If you know the soundtrack, or have seen this musical before, you'll know there's an awful lot of Celtic music in it, so the choreography is very stylized, so not only did the music sound good, those Celtic inspired moves also looked great. This is one of the few musicals that is performed all in one go, no interval, so making sure the direction was fluid was also a mighty job, but having known James for quite a few years now, I knew that both of these areas would be full of that Nelson magic and hard work. I was not wrong!

Associate Choreographer is Alison Cundell.

The music and lyrics are by Irene Sankoff and David Hein. I have the soundtrack, but when you see that soundtrack actually performed live, everything takes on a whole new and wonderful meaning. There are musical intricacies of the like of Sondheim's "Into the Woods" and beautiful narration, the sort you'd find in a Jason Robert Brown musical.

 Musical Director is Josh Hill and the arrangements for this score are just gorgeous. I love Irish music and this score is incredibly beautiful as well as foot tapping. Most of the musical numbers are ensemble pieces, but there are a few that are sung by single or groups of actors, breaking up the colossal sound of the voices and adding intimacy and emotion into the soundtrack.

Jo Dring, as Hannah, sings a really beautiful song called "I Am Here", and another highlight for me was Helena's "Me And The Sky". But just listen to "Something's Missing" and the opening number "Welcome To The Rock" for lessons on just how good a group song can sound, and the timing of everything, not just the songs, is immaculate.

The set is supplied by Showtime Solutions, and is different to other productions I've seen in the past, majorly with cases used as chairs in many scenes, making the manipulation of these cases a little easier and quicker to remove from the set when not needed.

The props, which I think would also include the fish - if you don't know the musical, I won't give any spoilers for that part - chairs, tables etc are sourced and provided by Kirstie Bennett.

The costumes, and there are a few changes of costumes which are done quite subtly, are thanks to Gemma Baxter.

Tech Manager is Lynsey Bloomfield.

Stage Managed by Duncan Gadsby, and this is one show that really relies on great stage management, and Duncan is up there. The Stage Crew consist of Ian Dean, Kirstie Bennett, Ed Dring, Matt Leeson and Jo Shaw.

Flys are courtesy of Richard York.

Sound is thanks to Ryan Heath. Loughborough Town Hall has always, in my opinion, had some of the best acoustics and having a good sound designer and operator in charge make a good musical sound like a great musical. This sounded like a great musical to me.

The Lighting Designer, and I imagine Operator, is James Cladinboel, another expert in their field of excellence.

This story gets better and better, as do the several productions that I have seen over the last few years. There are lows that make you feel uncomfortable with, but there are also many highs, laughter and a few tears; I can think of two scenes that are guaranteed to make an eye moist, but it's the strength of humanity and kindness that shines all the way through this musical.

If you've not seen this show yet, you need to get yourself a ticket. Fans of great theatre and story telling, you also need to get yourself a ticket because this is great theatre and a masterclass of story telling. There's no interval and the show runs at about 100 minutes, but you will be so engrossed in this story that you won't want it to end; and besides there would be no where to insert an interval anyway, who would want to stem the flow of this story with a break? 

"Come From Away" is at Loughborough Town Hall until Saturday 12 September.