First daughter Ivanka Trump was the guest of Canadian Prime Minister justin trudeau, and they welcomed a new musical "Come From Away" at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York. Also present on occasion were Trudeau’s wife and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley apart from Jean Chretien, a former Canadian prime minister, and the mayor of Gander. There were also another 120 ambassadors from around the world.
Fox New reports that the musical is based on the New York terror attacks of Sept. 11 in which nearly 3000 people lost their lives.
"Come From Away" is all about Canadian compassion and openness to international travelers after the Sept.
11 attacks. Trudeau has welcomed 40,000 Syrian refugees into Canada and was celebrating the 150th anniversary of Canada's confederation. He hoped to reaffirm the special relationship that exists between his country and the United States.
Details of the musical
The book is written by a Canadian husband-and-wife writing team Irene Sankoff and David Hein. They have not only written the book but also penned its lyrics and composed the music while Christopher Ashley of La Jolla Playhouse has directed it.
The setting of "Come From Away" is in Gander, a small town in Newfoundland. It faced a peculiar situation when it had to welcome nearly 7,000 airline passengers from different corners of the world.
Their flights were diverted to the city following the closure of U.S. airspace because of the terror strikes in New York. Within a few hours, 38 planeloads of travelers landed up in Gander, and the locals rose to the occasion. They offered them accommodation, fed them and made them feel comfortable.
The message of 'Come From Away.'
Before the show began, Justin Trudeau took the stage and said that, when the darkest time comes, people have to depend on each other and, the musical is an example of that feeling.
The show received a standing ovation and, one woman was seeing it for the 58th time. She had followed it as it moved from California to Seattle to Washington, D.C., then Gander and now Broadway.
She was Beverley Bass, the first female captain at American Airlines who, incidentally, was at the helm of Flight 49 that was on its way from Paris to Dallas-Fort Worth. It ended up in Gander on 9/11.
