Watch Come From Away ’s Touching Tribute to Health-Care Workers Battling COVID-19
This weekend, cast members from the Broadway and North American tour productions of Come From Away gathered online for a tribute performance, honoring health-care workers who are battling COVID-19.
The musical’s writers, Irene Sankoff and David Hein, say the show’s sentiment of unity and selflessness takes on a new significance amid the coronavirus pandemic. Come From Away tells the story of almost 7,000 airline passengers who were forced to land in Gander, Newfoundland, during the September 11 attacks. “The story is about identifying what people need, and doing it for them without question or hesitation,” says Hein. “That’s what the people of Newfoundland did, and that’s what our health-care workers are doing right now.”
After a few Zoom meetings together, the cast and crew of the show felt a duty to honor the health-care workers who are risking their lives every single day in order to save others. “They are the most vital people right now,” says castmate Joel Hatch, who has been with the production since its world premiere. “We’ve set them up at such a disadvantage—our country has not prepared for this in the way we needed to. They don’t have the protective gear, the ventilators, or the testing kits that they need. They are doing everything they can with what little they’ve been provided.”
For their special tribute, the ensemble chose to sing the musical’s number, “Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere.” Hatch says this particular song has been providing emotional relief to many fans of the musical, a feeling the cast hopes to extend to health-care providers as well. “We had been seeing several people on social media saying, ‘Just had a really bad day today, so I clicked on this song and listened to it,’” he says. “They were connecting with it emotionally and finding a bit of solace in it.”
In addition to the ensemble’s rendition of the song, members of the cast also read various letters addressed to health-care workers that were written by health-care students at Columbia University. “During this time when so many of us feel lost and afraid, you are our hope and you are our heroes,” student Cibel Quinteros wrote, read by cast member Sharon Wheatley.
Come From Away joins a roster of fellow Broadway productions that are doing their part to uplift spirits and provide people with joy during these stressful times. BroadwayWorld, for instance, has partnered with various Broadway performers to launch a series of daily Living Room Concerts. “The arts have always elevated emotional contact,” says Hatch of the movement. “When we are so socially distanced, I think emotional contact between human beings is vitally important.”
Sankoff adds that it’s important to continue using these mood-boosting platforms to highlight the important work of health-care workers. “We don’t know for how long or at what cost, and the fact that these people are still going into the frontlines every day, they deserve all the help and respect that we can give them.”
Watch the full performance, above.
Originally Appeared on Vogue
