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The fact that the entire eight-week run has already sold out at the 400-seat Joseph R. Smallwood Arts and Culture Centre is proof that there’s a huge thirst for the show here. This was also abundantly clear from the response of the opening night audience, who drank in the action with an intensity of focus I’ve rarely experienced and jumped to their feet whooping and cheering at the curtain call.

This was not necessarily a sure thing. The musical, which tells the story of the 38 planes grounded at Gander Airport in the immediate wake of Sept. 11, addresses its audience as if they are “come from aways” — that is, not from here.

In the opening number, “Welcome to the Rock,” a slightly fictionalized version of the town’s then-mayor, Claude Elliott, introduces some basics about islanders, given that those listening will “probably understand about a half of what we say”: the weather’s punishing and folks are used to saying goodbye, but “a candle’s in the window and the kettle’s always on.”

It’s essential that this material be delivered with care and authenticity and, playing Claude, Newfoundlander Peter Halley launches the show with inviting warmth, crystal-clear diction and a bang-on accent, and things stayed on this sure footing throughout the 100-minute show.

This is the first North American professional production of “Come From Away” that does not feature Christopher Ashley’s Tony-Award-winning original staging, which used simple wooden chairs, a revolving stage and a cast of 12 to bring an extensive array of characters to life, all based on real-life people. Here the cast is expanded to 16 and the centrepiece of Shawn Kerwin’s set is a backdrop covered with colourful yarn squares, crocheted by locals.

Expecting a few hundred submissions when they solicited these crocheted pieces, the production team received more than 2,000, and they’re also plastered all over the theatre’s interior walls and entranceways.

Rather than chairs, the movable set pieces here are portable white blocks, which variously represent suitcases, animal crates and air traffic control screens. Several sets of tall, thin pairs of blocks also quietly echo the Twin Towers.

As with Beowulf Boritt’s original design — and following the book and lyrics, which underline Gander’s location amidst dense forest — Kerwin’s design also centrally features trees, which are visible behind the backdrop and at the sides of the stage, often gorgeously silhouetted in Leigh Ann Vardy’s evocative lighting design. Jonathan Monro’s band sounds fantastic as they play from a pit in front of the stage (not onstage as in the original).

In some ways, Keiley’s direction and Marc Kimelman’s choreography follow the original, as in the company’s unison rocking and stomping in the opening number, and seated choreography in musical numbers set on the plane. At other points, Keiley and Kimelman differ by having the company break out of uniform actions and use the whole stage. The choreography embraces the cast members’ individual ways of moving while keeping them within particular steps and patterns, another way in which the staging expresses a community ethos.

There seems more potential in the use of red yarn to indicate places the visitors come from on a small backdrop map, and to serve as phone cords for agonized calls back home; while clever, these staging elements sometimes got lost.

The overall pace and tone of the production are spot on, a testament both to Keiley’s skills and the airtight construction of the material by the married composer/lyricist/book writer team Irene Sankoff and David Hein (Hein was in the opening-night audience and gave a heartfelt pre-show speech).

As a fan of the original production, I found it fun and refreshing to see original cast members taking on new roles here. Newfoundlander Petrina Bromley, who originally played animal-loving local Bonnie, here ably takes on the central role of Captain Beverley Bass, whose American Airlines flight brings the main group of come-from-aways to Gander. Astrid Van Wieren, who originally played Gander Academy teacher Beulah, here warmly plays Texan Diane, who meets cute with awkward Englishman Nick (Stuart Hickey) on Beverley’s flight.

Along with Halley’s enormously charismatic Claude, other standouts in the cast include Maiesha McQueen as anguished passenger Hannah, who brings gospel inflections and stirring emotional depth to her singing as she waits for news of her firefighter son; and Clint Butler as passenger Kevin T, who’s drawn into the warmth of the community and away from the negativity of his partner Kevin J (Michael ɫɫ��w). Tyler Belo nails the comedy as cynical New Yorker Bob, who initially can’t believe how nice all these people are and ends up being their biggest cheerleader. And Kwaku Okyere brings great dignity to Ali, the skilled chef who’s subjected to ethnic profiling.

They and the whole company are excellent, and while the expanded cast size helps deliver the messages of community and add vocal power and nuance, I wondered about the thinking behind some of the casting, though this may be dictated by the material itself: why does the actor playing Beverley still also play local Annette, when the former’s such a big part? I also missed the humour generated by having the same actor play all the local mayors.

As someone who’s been writing about “Come From Away” , it’s thrilling and a privilege to respond to the show in the heart of the community whose generosity it celebrates, and which has been borne out in the friendliness of all I’ve met.

There’s many a welcome on the Rock.

Karen Fricker is a ɫɫ��-based theatre critic and a freelance contributor for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

Come From Away

3.5 stars

Book, music, and lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein, directed by Jillian Keiley, choreographed by Marc Kimelman. Playing through Sept. 3 at the Joseph R. Smallwood Arts and Culture Centre, Gander, N.L. or 709-256-1081.