Come From Away nominated for 7 Tony Awards

The Canadian musical Come From Away was nominated for best musical at the Tony Awards, announced in New York this morning (May 2).

The play, which tells the story of how the people of Gander, N.L., welcomed stranded passengers into their hearts and homes when 9/11 happened, was nominated alongside Groundhog Day, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 and Dear Evan Hansen.

Come from Away, written by Irene Sankoff and David Hein, garnered seven nominations in total, including recognition for best book of a musical, original score, lighting design, direction, choreography and best actress in a musical (Jenn Colella).

On q, last November, Come From Away actress Petrina Bromley spoke about the musical in an interview with Tom Power.

"It's a story of a life-affirming event coming out of something incredibly dark," she said. "The idea that people who are strangers, from another place, can come somewhere and be greeted with open arms and accepted into the community — I think that's a story that people want to believe can happen because we see so much of the opposite of that in the news. It reminds people that there is goodness somewhere in all of us if we just rise to the occasion when it's needed." 

Groundhog Day writer Danny Rubin was also a guest recently on q, discussing adapting the screenplay of the 1993 film for Broadway.

Fellow best musical nominee Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet led the nominations overall with 12 and Hello Dolly! snagged 10 nods.

Jane Krakowski and Christopher Jackson, a member of Hamilton's original cast, presented the nominations for the 71st annual Tony Awards at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.

The Tony Awards will be presented on Sunday, June 11, at New York City's Radio City Music Hall and will be hosted by actor Kevin Spacey.

— Del Cowie, q digital staff