I ended up in an unexpected place Thursday night.
Having just returned from a vacation getaway with my wife, there were no big plans for the week other than getting back into the work groove in my cluttered home office, where I've been working since the office sent everyone home last year as part of its pandemic measures. I had nothing major on my personal calendar except for a lunch gathering to help show some well-earned appreciation for my church's pastors.
I looked forward to Saturday's Razorback men's basketball game, having missed the opening exhibition game while on vacation. I hear attending that first one would have induced a little frustration, perhaps eroding the benefits of our weeklong getaway.
But I had not expected to be seated Thursday evening in great seats at the Walton Arts Center, watching of all things a musical, thanks to my wife's cousin. Well, I'll call her my cousin-in-law, because saying she's just my wife's cousin seems too distant. She's one of those relatives by marriage whose kindness, good humor and thoughtfulness make me glad to claim the relationship.
She had tickets to Thursday's show but could not use them, so she kindly offered them to Sheryl and me.
In all honesty, when I hear a performance is a musical play, my gut response is to look for something else to do. There are a million reasons I know that shouldn't be my reaction. Maybe I've seen one too many of those musical experiments of episodic television, like an episode of "Grey's Anatomy" or even all the way back to a short-lived show called "Cop Rock."
But while on vacation, Sheryl and I took an excursion, belt-buckled into seats that were, for all intents and purposes, in the bed of a truck. Along with us were a couple from Ohio and a Jamaican-born woman from New York. At one stop where we had time to visit, the Ohioans told us about a musical they'd watched on Apple TV. It was an incredible story from Sept. 11, 2001, but not in New York. We really should see it, they said.
Less than a week later, cousin Carey is offering us her tickets to see it at the Walton Arts Center.
"Come from Away" tells the story of Gander, Newfoundland, and surrounding communities where 38 commercial airplanes, carrying about 6,500 people, were forced to land in response to the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Stranded there for several days, the shaken passengers and crews find a hearty welcome among the people of a region that lacks the hotels and restaurants to handle the influx.
The musical was astounding, but even more impressive is that it's based in fact. The townspeople poured themselves into hosting strangers as though they were longtime friends come from away for an overdue visit. People put the visitors up in their own homes and marshalled beds and food and clothing at a local school.
The response in and around Gander, Newfoundland, was the antithesis of the hate and violence that rocked the world on Sept. 11, 2001. When the passengers got their chance to depart, they offered their deep appreciation for the warm Newfoundland welcome they'd received.
"You would do the same for me" was the townspeople's response on stage and, I suspect, in real life 20 years ago.
Would I? That was question rolling around in my head Thursday evening as I drove home. Faced with the same circumstance, would I respond with such compassion for strangers? Would the community I live in reflect such heartfelt humanity?
I'd sure like to believe so.
It was the Walton Arts Center's first Broadway Show since early 2020. I can't imagine a better story to tell to kick off its 30th season.