The bright lights hit the stage as the cast walks out to a roaring crowd. They begin to sing, their costumes changing rapidly as they put on and take off pieces to become different people, their movement dynamic as ever. They feed off of each other’s energy and the energy of the audience. It is as if they make the onlookers part of the show happening in front of them, even though the majority of them are thousands of miles away, watching the show from a recording in front of their TV’s.

The hit Broadway musical “Come From Away,” which opened in 2017, was recently recorded and uploaded to Apple TV on Sept. 10, in time for the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

“When I saw that “Come From Away” was being released on the 20th anniversary, which happened to be that Friday when we were supposed to be doing the trip [for Discoveries Orientation], I was like ‘this was meant to be,’” psychology associate professor Kateri McRae said. “Even though we have several shows planned to go to in person, there were not very many options for things to see in person for the Discoveries Trip.”

McRae’s first year seminar (FSEM) class, titled “Exploring Psychology, Exploring You, Through Theater,” watched the release on the day it came out in Frontier Hall.

“It’s a really good show to point out the in-group, out-group phenomenon, and just the general anxiety surrounding the 9/11 attacks,” Psychology Through Theater FSEM student Emma Slatnick said.

In the class, the students watch a play or a musical almost every week, and subsequently write a paper relating something about the play to a defined psychological term. It is also a 4D FSEM, which allows the students to do some reflection and self-improvement.

“The class is about watching musicals and analyzing the psychology behind them,” Slatnick said.

The musical focuses not on the events of 9/11 in New York, but rather the lesser known story of the 38 planes that were grounded in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada, after the U.S. Airspace closed due to the attacks.

“I had listened to the cast recordings before I started the class, but had never actually seen the musical,” Psychology Through Theater FSEM student Michael Chevront said. “My FSEM gave me a completely new perspective on the show.”

One of the main characters is a pilot named Beverly Bass, played by Jen Colella, who flew one of the airplanes that landed in Gander. She has an amazing solo where she describes becoming the first female captain for American Airlines, titled “Me and the Sky.”

“The monologue given by the pilot toward the end of the show stood out to me the most,” Chevront said. “It added so much depth to both her character and the storyline, which made for an unforgettable scene.”

Colella also plays Annette, and similarly many of the other cast members also have double or triple roles, making use of the simplistic set to tell such a compelling story.

“My favorite part of “Come From Away” was the music, and the set,” Slatnick said. “I really liked how they used the chairs as more of a set than a formal background.”

While the musical centers around a rather serious topic, the actors do a good job of adding light-hearted jokes and making the audience smile.

“The most entertaining part of the musical was definitely the scene where the passengers of the flights go to the bar,” Chevront said. “Their comedic timing was perfect and it was a classic showstopper moment with tap dancing and a hilarious karaoke sequence.”

As McRae points out, the musical focuses on, from a psychological perspective, coping and resilience.

“My favorite piece of the musical is that, by and large, the take-home points are actually extremely uplifting, even though it centers around one of the most horrific tragedies in recent national memory,” McRae said.

You can stream the musical “Come From Away” on Apple TV+ for $4.99 a month, or by using a seven day free trial when you sign up for the streaming service. 

“I would definitely recommend watching this show,” Chevront said. “It’s a powerful statement on people’s recollection of the [9/11] attack, but also makes for a really entertaining musical.”