They are streaming into New York from Alberta, Calgary and, of course, Newfoundland. Some wear red, stay warm in gloves adorned with the maple leaf, or carry a provincial flag.
Canada is having a rare moment on Broadway — “Come From Away,” a musical written by a married Canadian couple, set in Newfoundland and celebrating Canadian decency, has just opened at the Schoenfeld Theater. The show was already drawing an unusually high number of Canadian ticket-buyers, and an extraordinary amount of Canadian media attention, even before this week, when it hit the apotheosis of Canadianness: The country’s charismatic and popular prime minister, Justin Trudeau, attended with a group of 600 allies and diplomats.
And now the show has turned unexpectedly into a form of Canadian soft power: an expression of Canadian ideals, seemingly at odds with those of the new American administration, on stage nightly in the heart of New York City.
On Wednesday night, Mr. Trudeau sat side-by-side with Ivanka Trump, the American president’s daughter and close adviser, as the 100-minute musical celebrated the welcome extended by residents of Gander, a small town in Newfoundland, to thousands of air travelers diverted during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The show is packed with distinctive local details; one scene, inevitably, is set in the ubiquitous doughnut chain Tim Hortons.
The timing was rich: As Ms. Trump, joined by Nikki R. Haley, the American ambassador to the United Nations, and Mr. Trudeau, accompanied by his wife, Sophie, watched an artistic tribute to the virtues of embracing foreigners, President Trump was proposing to eliminate federal funding of the arts and to ban travel from parts of the Muslim world.
Although the musical has been in development for years, it arrives on Broadway at a complex moment for Canada’s relationship with its southern neighbor. The Trump administration is demanding to rework the North American Free Trade Agreement — a pact strongly supported by Mr. Trudeau; the United States ban on immigrants from six predominantly Muslim countries, blocked on Wednesday by a federal judge, has set off a surge in asylum seekers fleeing from the United States to Canada, where they have largely been welcomed; and Mr. Trump’s budget proposal would eliminate a federal program aimed at cleaning up the Great Lakes, which over 10 million Canadians rely on for their drinking water.
In remarks to the audience before the show, and to reporters afterward, Mr. Trudeau chose his words carefully. He described “Come From Away” as a testament to the deep friendship between the United States and Canada, and said disagreements were to be expected between allies.
“We’re always going to have differences of approaches on certain issues, but the fundamental hopes for the future, the responsibilities of keeping people safe, and building a better future for our kids is something that we can always agree on,” he told the CBC. Then, pressed by Tom Brokaw of NBC on differences about refugees, he said, “I know — and I’ve always felt, for Canada — that we recognize that diversity is a great source of strength, and that’s something we’re open to in the world.”
Canadians in the audience were more explicit in seeing the show as a moment to highlight how Canada’s welcoming of refugees contrasts with America’s harsher policy.
“Canada understands these people are just looking for security and a safe place for their families,’’ said Sophie de Caen, 57, who moved to New York from Montreal, where she works for the United Nations Development Program, which helps Syrian refugees, among others. “As we can see in this show, Canadians have a generosity of spirit. We accept diversity.”
Renee Beaumont, 48, who moved to New York from Vancouver years ago, showed up at the musical wearing a shirt emblazoned with the words, “I am an immigrant.”
“The contrast between the U.S. and Canada is so stark,” Ms. Beaumont said. “Nothing is solved unless we have dialogue.”
Lee MacDougall, a native of Kirkland Lake, in northern Ontario, said he feels a particular pride that the show is resonating with Canadians. “Every night when we go sign autographs there are school groups from Alberta or somewhere else in Canada,” he said. “This is a very Canada-proud story, and people are excited to celebrate that.”
Four previous musicals written by Canadians have opened on Broadway, and three of them flopped (the exception was “The Drowsy Chaperone”). “Come From Away,” which opened last Sunday, is off to a healthy, but not record-setting, start — it garnered a strong review from The New York Times, and is doing decent business at the box office.
The musical is by Irene Sankoff and David Hein, and was nurtured by the Canadian Music Theater Project at Sheridan College near Toronto. But most of its pre-Broadway development took place in the United States, and the vast majority of the show’s $12 million capitalization was raised here, though there are a number of Canadian investors.
The news media in Canada has covered the show’s journey to Broadway exhaustively, including segments on the opening night party, The New York Times review, its cast and its financial prospects.
“We love to see ourselves on the world stage, because it’s not often,” Ms. Sankoff said.
The show had one pre-Broadway run in Canada, an eight-week stand at the Royal Alexandra Theater in Toronto, where standing-room space and an extra performance were added to meet demand, and the show is returning to the same theater next year (this will be in addition to the Broadway production, assuming it’s still running).
Sue Frost, one of the show’s lead producers, estimated that 14 percent of the audience is from Canada, a marked increase over the 2.6 percent average on Broadway, according to data collected by the Broadway League. One night, the mayor of Calgary showed up; the Newfoundland-based Memorial University School of Music sent a group; on Wednesday night the audience included not only Mr. Trudeau but one of his predecessors, Jean Chrétien, and on Thursday night the stars of “Republic of Doyle,” a Canadian television comedy series, were expected to attend.
“You can always tell the Canadians, because they respond so differently and vociferously, and if you’re really lucky you have Newfoundlanders waving flags,” said Ms. Frost, who is American. “There are days when you see 40 or 50 flags in the house.”
And the Canadian performers are taking particular pleasure at portraying their home country on the world’s biggest stage.
“You always imagine as a kid you want to do ‘Annie,’” said Petrina Bromley, the lone Newfoundlander in the cast. “But to be here as a Newfoundlander, doing a show about Newfoundland, is beyond anything I could ever have imagined.”
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