By Mary Ann Bourbeau
HOLMDEL – Now is the perfect time to discover, or rediscover, the remarkable true story of the small town that welcomed the world when the musical “Come From Away” opens at Bell Theater at Bell Works Sept. 11, the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The musical is the true story of 7,000 stranded airline passengers who were grounded in the small Canadian fishing town of Gander, Newfoundland, after U.S. airspace was closed that day. The Tony Award-winning production runs through Oct. 4.
This beloved musical opened on Broadway in 2017 and ran for more than five and a half years. It’s a moving and uplifting story set to a dynamic score, chronicling how the friendly residents of Gander, a town of roughly 10,000 people, came together to welcome and care for these strangers for five days before flights resumed.
The musical, written by Tony Award nominees Irene Sankoff and David Hein, kicks off on the clear blue morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when two jets hit the World Trade Center buildings and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration shut down airspace, forcing more than 4,000 planes to land at their nearest airport. Inbound flights from Europe were diverted to Canada. In total, 38 planes landed at Gander International Airport carrying almost 7,000 passengers and crew members, nearly doubling the town’s population in one day.
After being forced to remain on the planes for five hours with no information about the circumstances, the passengers disembarked and were taken to local churches, schools, community centers and shelters in Gander and neighboring towns. Locals were tasked with feeding, housing and caring for these shocked travelers. Lifelong friendships and even a romance blossomed during this tense period. The passengers were forever changed after experiencing such hospitality and kindness.
Many of the characters in the show are based on real people. Capt. Beverley Bass was one of the pilots instructed to divert to Gander. She was the first female pilot to be made a captain by American Airlines. Bonnie Harris, manager of a Gander animal shelter, teamed up with two other women to check on the animals in the plane’s cramped storage area, which included an epileptic cat and two rare Bonobo chimps. New York resident Hannah O’Rourke was distraught when she couldn’t contact her son, a firefighter in Brooklyn. She was befriended by Gander resident Beulah Cooper, whose son was also a firefighter. The two remained close in the years after.
Nick Marson, a British businessman, was headed to Texas for work. He was on the same flight to Houston as Diane Kirschke. The two struck up a conversation at a shelter in Gambo, Newfoundland, while waiting in line for a blanket. That evening they went for a walk and later to a local bar, where they became honorary Newfoundlanders during a “Screech” – a custom where visitors take a shot of rum and kiss a codfish. After they left Gander, their friendship continued through phone conversations and, two months later, Nick proposed over the phone. He arranged a job transfer to Houston. They were married a year later and honeymooned in Newfoundland, where the mayor of Gambo wrote a song to commemorate the occasion. Asbury Park resident Brian O’Brien takes on the role of Marson in the show.
“Nick was a British oil executive who traveled a lot for work and was kind of lonely,” said O’Brien. “In Gander, he met and fell in love with Diane, who was from Texas. The circumstances put them in each other’s arms.”
O’Brien, who was raised in Monmouth Beach, has performed on Broadway in “Steel Pier,” “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Anything Goes,” “Chicago” and “Promises, Promises!” He also toured nationally with “Monty Python’s Spamalot.” He was living in New York City the morning of the terrorist attacks and remembers the day well.
“I had just closed ‘Annie Get Your Gun’ and was rehearsing another show at Lincoln Center,” he said. “My roommate came in and said a plane hit the World Trade Center. I totally thought it was an accident, even when the second plane hit. Terrorism never occurred to me.”
He walked down the West Side Highway toward his apartment on 46th Street and saw throngs of people walking uptown from lower Manhattan.
“I felt so helpless,” he said. “I went to a neighborhood parish and said a prayer. I saw real a positivity in the city that day around everybody coming together.”
This past April, O’Brien played the part of Nick in a production of “Come From Away” in Utah. When he returned to Asbury Park in May, he had dinner at Moonstruck and met a friend who worked at Axelrod PAC, who suggested he audition for the upcoming production.
“The show deals with a lot of sensitive subject matter, especially how some people were fearful of those of Muslim heritage, but in the end, it has a message of hope and humanity,” he said. “When people needed help, the kindness and warmth of the Newfoundland people came through. The show has a lot of heart, and there are actually a lot of great, humorous moments, too.”
Tickets for “Come From Away” are $69 and $79 for adults and $25 for students. Visit axelrodartscenter.com or call 732-531-9106, ext. 14. Bell Theater is located inside the Bell Works complex, 101 Crawfords Corner Road, Holmdel, with plenty of free parking.
The article originally appeared in the August 27 – September 2, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
