‘Come From Away’ film of theatre musical is coming to Apple TV Plus

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This article was published 04/08/2021 (1514 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Can Apple TV Plus do for a movie version of “Come From Away” what Disney Plus did for “Hamilton”?

Apple Original Films announced Wednesday that a film of the theatre musical “Come From Away” will premiere on streaming service Apple TV Plus on Sept. 10.

The made-in-Canada musical, which has won a Tony Award, four Olivier Awards, five Outer Critics Circle Awards and three Drama Desk Awards, is about the 7,000-plus air passengers who were stranded in Gander and other Newfoundland towns when U.S. airspace was closed and flights diverted after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Though perhaps not quite the cultural phenomenon that hip-hop musical “Hamilton” became, “Come From Away” has played to packed houses on Broadway since March 2017, save for the interruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and is due to reopen there Sept. 21. A Toronto production was into its third year of performances when COVID shuttered theatres.

In a news release, Apple said “Come From Away” was filmed live this past May at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York City — while Broadway was still officially closed — for an audience that included Sept. 11 survivors and front-line workers.

It’s the latest buzzy Broadway show to get a movie release.

“Hamilton,” the multiple Tony-winning, smash hit musical about U.S. founding father Alexander Hamilton, made its Disney Plus debut last July after the pandemic sidelined plans for a movie theatre release in 2021. It was a big hit for the streamer, no doubt fuelled by viewers unable to score expensive and scarce Broadway tickets who could finally see what all the fuss was about — and with the original cast, no less.

It also reaped rewards for Disney during awards season. “Hamilton,” the movie, has 10 nominations going into the Primetime Emmy Awards in September, including Outstanding Pre-Recorded Variety Special, Outstanding Directing for Thomas Kail and Best Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for creator Lin-Manuel Miranda in the title role. Miranda also scored a best actor Golden Globe nomination while the movie was up for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy.

Meanwhile, a film adaptation of “Dear Evan Hansen,” the Broadway show that beat “Come From Away” to the Best Musical Tony in 2017, will open this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Another movie of a Broadway show, “David Byrne’s American Utopia,” opened last year’s TIFF before making its TV debut on HBO and migrating to the streaming services HBO Max and Crave.

“Come From Away” was created by Canadian couple Irene Sankoff and David Hein, who will serve as executive producers of the film. It was directed by Christopher Ashley, who won a Tony for the Broadway production, and filmed by RadicalMedia, the same company that shot “Hamilton” and “American Utopia.”

The film cast includes several of the original Broadway actors, including Tony nominee Jenn Colella, and Canadians Petrina Bromley and Astrid Van Wieren. New Brunswick native Tony Lepage also stars.