This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Geno Carr: Have you ever been to Newfoundland?

[0:02] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, so the producers took the original cast, the original Broadway cast, before we did our pre-Broadway run in Toronto. We flew up and made a stop in Newfoundland. And I have to tell you, that's how it's pronounced. Newfoundland.

[0:15] Geno Carr: Newfoundland.

[0:16] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, like understand, Newfoundland. Oh, you get in big trouble if you say it wrong, rightfully so, but it's often mispronounced. Yeah, so our producers who are just amazing, Junkyard Dog Productions is the name of our lead producers. And they felt it was very important for us to get up there and sort of meet everyone and see everything. And we got to give them this gift of the show that we've been working on, hoping to say thank you in a way to say, is this okay? Do we sort of have your blessing?

[0:46] Geno Carr: And did you do the show for them?

[0:48] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I wish we could have done the full blown skit. But unfortunately, as you may or may not know, Gander, Newfoundland is not a huge town. Nowhere in Newfoundland is considered actually a huge town. So there are no facilities that could house a full production. Certainly not our production. So what we did was a really cool concert version. And we performed it in their ice hockey arena, in the Steel Community Center. Yeah, which is pretty crazy. We talk about it in the show. And they literally became rock concerts. It was insane. Everyone who's anyone in Newfoundland and beyond came and got to hear their stories and their friends' stories and the stories of their people and their culture and their region told.

And we all went into it going, you know, we've done the show, you know, in other cities, and we're comfortable with it. And we're gonna be able to keep it together. And we're going to be strong. And then as soon as the first drumbeat happened, our show starts with like a dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum-dum, you know, everyone in the audience starts screaming. And throughout the whole performance, they're screaming back and laughing at things and loving it. And we're bawling, we're trying so hard to keep it together. And we are failing miserably. The end of the end of the concert, we're all just hoarse because we've just been screaming over these people. It was so incredible. It never happens. This kind of journey that our show took, and the way the show was constructed, and the way the show was produced, and the way our journey was to Broadway, and all of those things. It's the most unique experience any actor could ever have. It's incredible.

[2:32] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Welcome everybody to A Musical Theatre Podcast where we discuss the cultural and emotional impact of some of our favorite musicals in theater history. My name is Jeffrey Scott Parsons, you can call me Jeff. Today we are talking Come From Away with Mr. Geno Carr. Hey, Geno.

[2:47] Geno Carr: It's me. Hi, how are you?

[2:49] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I'm so grateful you're here. I'm actually really excited to talk about the show, but this episode also marks two firsts for the podcast. Number one, we are recording a special evening edition. And that is because...

[3:06] Geno Carr: Oh yeah, I'm going to explain. Yes. Because I have a four and a half year old. And this is the time of night, the late hours, the witching hours, where he actually generally goes to sleep and is quiet for once. So that's why we're recording at night. I'm recording in a lovely closet.

[3:21] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, that's why we're doing this sultry evening podcast. Which brings me to the second first. You're the first dad we've had on the show.

[3:31] Geno Carr: Are you kidding me?

[3:32] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Are you kidding me?

[3:34] Geno Carr: No, we've had all these single gay people.

[3:39] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Well, I'm neither single nor gay, so I guess knock both those off the shelf.

[3:43] Geno Carr: Wow. Right?

[3:44] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: My gosh. Congratulations, Gino. I'm really proud of you.

[3:47] Geno Carr: I feel like a unicorn. Thank you.

[3:49] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: How long have you and your wife been married?

[3:50] Geno Carr: Oh, you have to ask me that. So yeah, so this August, we've been married for 17 years.

[3:57] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Wowzers. And when did you decide it was time to make the kiddo?

[4:03] Geno Carr: We're slightly older parents in the grand scheme of life, not geriatric per se, but older than a lot. And we just spent so much time doing our thing. And we started to have sort of this, hmm, I wonder what else feeling in our life. And it sort of became this, if it's meant to be, maybe it'll happen. And then it actually happened. And suddenly it was this, OK, now we're going to have a human to take care of. This is a little crazy.

[4:32] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: So if he's four and a half, and Come From Away opened on Broadway in 2017, of which you are an original cast member, does that mean you kind of had two babies at the same time?

[4:45] Geno Carr: Well, it gets even stranger than that. Let's rewind even further. Get ready for this.

[4:50] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: OK.

[4:51] Geno Carr: Today marks five years since the first day of rehearsals at La Jolla Playhouse for the world premiere of Come From Away.

[4:56] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Stop it!

[4:57] Geno Carr: Yeah, today. Isn't that crazy? Elliot was in utero at this point. He would be born in August. So he was jumping and kicking to the show before he was out of the womb opening night. Nancy has all these memories of him just dancing along inside her to Come From Away. So he's been, as you said, like I've had two babies. Literally, he and the Come From Away experience are so intertwined that it's almost hard sometimes to, you know, separate them at all and think about them as two different parts of my life. It's just he and Come From Away are my babies.

[5:34] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And were they able to be with you throughout the whole thing? Like, did they go to New York?

[5:39] Geno Carr: Yes, they went to New York with me. They did not go to Toronto with me, our pre-Broadway engagement. And they did go to D.C., Ford's Theatre in D.C. with me.

[5:50] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And did it just start out with an appointment at an audition?

[5:54] Geno Carr: Yeah. So San Diego is a much smaller market than, say, New York and some of the other markets. So for the most part, if you've been working in this city for any, you know, amount of time, you can still go into open calls. But a lot of times you were just sort of called in for callbacks or, you know, sent out feelers for, would you be interested in being seen for this? And La Jolla Playhouse, I'd been in several times for projects and just nothing ever clicked. I went in for this and thought, OK, I don't really know what this show is. I read it and I, you know, had the synopsis and thought, OK, it's a new musical, great artistic team. I would love to go in and be seen. So I went in, did the audition.

It was, I spent about, I think, 10 or 12 minutes in the room by myself, which was great. And went through every song in my book, every song inside. They had sent me multiple dialects. Go back and try it this way. Try this faster. Now go back and sing that song from your book. Do you have anything that's contemporary? What about something that's more of a ballad? And so it was one of these auditions where I didn't have time to get nervous because I was so busy jumping through these kind of hoops, which was something I'd never done before to that extent. And that was my only audition. It was 10 minutes in the room with Chris Ashley and a camera and the rest of the artistic team, the producers, the writers all saw me on video. So.

[7:13] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: You're kidding me.

[7:13] Geno Carr: Yeah, which this does not happen. It was just one of those right place, right time, right situation. Everything worked out. And so I had one audition. I booked the show and then that was as far as we knew. But then I got a phone call from Chris Ashley too much two months later and said, do you want to come with back with us and go on the journey? I know you have your wife and your son, Elliot, and you have a life there, but we'd love to have you come back and join us. So I didn't have to re-audition. I got invited to do DC in Toronto and make my Broadway debut. So I won the lottery about 10 times over.

[7:44] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: You are literally the reason why we all say, no, it's fine. I'll do theater here in California. And then, you know, maybe fingers crossed someday.

[7:50] Geno Carr: Well, a lot of shows that are regional now, you know, like, well, this one's positioned or is, you know, on that road to Broadway. And that was not the case with this show. There's always a hope, I guess, in the back of anyone's mind that new musical, this could be something. So yeah, I, it's a bit of a Cinderella because I, I have been here for about 10 years in San Diego, living and enjoying life. And this came up and I thought, great new musical. And then suddenly the, you know, the doors opened, it became something much, much bigger and extraordinarily fulfilling and life-changing. So I always say I'm, you know, still black and blue from pinching myself. And I feel like I should have played the lottery the next day because I probably would have won the lottery too. It was a good deal. It was a real good deal.

[8:39] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: What do you think is the importance of regional theater in the overall, you know, theater landscape?

[8:45] Geno Carr: Yeah. I mean, it's huge, right? When you think about Broadway, everyone, you know, a lot of people sort of think like, that's the pinnacle. That's, that's like the best of the best. That's where it all comes together. And a lot of times that's, that is true, but it's also show business and it is business in New York. It is all about the money. Yes. Art is important to a certain extent, but only as long as the art is making money. So commercial, commercial theater, especially on that level is so, there's so much riding on it. And what's great about the regional theater is not to say there isn't some of that pressure as well, but much more of that is people have seasoned, you know, subscriptions and they support this theater because they love their aesthetic or their mission statement or that, you know, the type of shows that they bring in.

So there is a kind of a different pressure, I think. And it's great because that is an environment where you can take more risks with shows. You can have a chance to try things that, you know, is this commercially viable? We, we don't know. We just want to tell the story in this way. And sometimes it ends up being this like geisty, perfect, you know, storm where things happen and it makes commercial success as well. But what the, one of the great things about so many of the regional theaters in our country is that they don't have that same pressure. And so what, especially the Globe and La Jolla are both great here in San Diego about that, about trying out new things, finding the mixture of the old and the new, finding the classics and also the stuff that, you know, flips the classics on their head.

And it's San Diego is a particularly great city because there are so many theaters, including those two big regional houses that allow artists all across the boards, you know, both sides of the footlights to, you know, have their voices heard in a way that may not be commercially viable necessarily.

[10:30] Geno Carr: You know, right now we're looking at, I don't know what the future of theater, the near future of theater looks like. But what I do know is that we probably wouldn't have Come From Away as a Broadway experience if it hadn't been such a huge success in San Diego, La Jolla, and then in Seattle. These regional houses and the people who go and support them by buying tickets and attending their shows are largely responsible for the huge outreach that these shows can have once they make it to New York. So never think that by simply going to your regional theater, are you any less of a theater goer than those that go to New York? In fact, you might be dictating what ends up in New York.

[11:20] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And there's so much great theater, again, whether it goes to New York, whether it's, you know, a huge success financially. The idea of art is to express something and hopefully allow others to experience that and have their own connection to it. And sometimes you get that great nexus where art and commercial viability come together. But the thing that you want is to be in a room with people telling great stories in an interesting way and connecting with people. That's why this time is so difficult. We don't know when we're going to get in the same room and connect with people again and tell stories in the same way. It's that's what makes theater theater.

[12:00] Geno Carr: Yeah, actually, let's talk about one of those great communal experiences, which is the show Come From Away. It was written music and lyrics and book by a husband and wife team known as Irene's

[12:12] Geno Carr: And how would you describe them as a couple? They're amazing people. They are both actors as well. They started off performing and starting to write their own stuff. They came from different parts of Canada. She's more of a city girl from Toronto. David was from Saskatchewan, which is more of a, you know, a woodsy province. So they both had different sensibilities coming together. I mean, she went to grad school in New York, they were both in New York during 9-11 as a couple. So they have this amazing relationship. And they will joke about this as well, that the fact that they can work together and still stay married. And they tried. They would always say they tried to have those rules of when we get home, we're not going to talk about the show.

We're going to save that for our work times and invariably, you know, brushing teeth like, what do you think about that? I think that song is bad. We need to change those lyrics. But luckily, they're still going strong and they're still doing well. But they are wonderful in so many ways. They especially are open to, you know, shaping things. And I think because they are actors as well, they know what it feels like to be an actor interpreting other people's words. And it was incredible to be a part of something that they had already written and done, of course, several drafts of and readings of. But to get in the room with them and they were in the room, every rehearsal process that we had in all the different cities, making changes and being part of it because we had, you know, we had four out of towns, which is very unusual for a commercial run.

You know, we did La Jolla and Seattle and D.C. and Toronto. So we had very different geographical locations, very different sensibilities, different people's relationships to the events of 9-11. Depending on those different cities was very different. And they were able to take all that information and sort of create and continue to shape this piece, which is, you know, it's a big piece of material. They had hundreds of hours of interviews of thousands of people, and they created this cohesive tapestry with a through line, with clear characters, and they were able to distill it down to something that is cohesive and comprehensible, but also, you know, incredibly theatrical and moving and powerful.

[14:26] Geno Carr: Now, in 2009, they wrote a musical called My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding. Yes. And that was really the only thing, the only musical they wrote before Come From Away, which is crazy. But from that, a college dean had seen their work and thought that they might be a good duo to musicalize the true story of the city of Gander. Now, can you tell me a little bit about Gander, where it is and what is special about it geographically? So Gander, Newfoundland. So a bit of history, abridged history on Gander. It is in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, northeast tip of North America. It's as far northeast as you can go before you hop across the Atlantic to Europe. And what was special about Gander in particular and continues to be is they have a big airport.

And they had that originally because back in the old days, planes couldn't necessarily go all the way across transatlantic travel without refueling. So often flights, military as well as commercial, would stop from the US in Gander, refuel and then make their journey across to Europe and vice versa. So it became a very important hub for transatlantic travel. And then, of course, we fast forward in the jet engines and, you know, fuel economy and things like that. Gander was no longer as vital of a hub, but it still had this huge international airport. Kind of the Barstow, California. Yeah. It's like you're driving to Vegas, you're driving to Utah in my case. And you're like, all right, well, I know I can stop in Barstow.

Fuel up yourself, fuel up the car and get going. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely true. And it's a small town. It's a small province. It's a small island. I mean, everything about it is nothing about it is big city. So it's a culture of taking care of each other, partly out of just necessity of there aren't that many other people. There aren't that many other resources. It's a place where kindness and generosity was just, you know, bred into them for generations. And it ended up being an extraordinarily important sort of collective character trait when 9-11 happened. And all of these flights that were heading across the Atlantic back to North America were either diverted back to Europe if they hadn't hit the halfway point of the Atlantic or they were diverted to Canada because the FAA said we're shutting down U.S. airspace.

No one comes in. So if they had enough fuel, they turned around and went back to Europe. But everyone else had to make their way to a couple, a handful of airports in Canada where everyone was grounded. And then they just drained the sky. And Gander, again, being a very small airport, they said at that point in that time in 2001, they would have generally about six flights a day that would come through. And on this day, they had 38 commercial jetliners land. Wow. There's a whole thing in our show, 38, 38, 38 planes because it's a lot of planes. Now, for most airports, that's not a big deal for most cities. You're like, well, that comes in and a couple of hours in Atlanta or, you know, in New York.

But remember, six flights a day coming through and then 38 commercial jetliners with hundreds, thousands of passengers on them. Their population doubled in the course of a day. And they had to then not only say here you can land here, then they have to say, well, we have to get you off of these planes. We have to get you taken care of food, shelter, love, compassion. So the sort of geographical as well as social generosity that was bred into them and, you know, became so much of their natural human kindness was so important because there's a lot of people who were very scared that landed there that day and had no idea what was going on. And they ended up landing in this incredible love nest of Gander, Newfoundland.

So just to review the numbers, the city was about nine thousand. And then on nine eleven, about 16000 people is what they sort of say. Gander was not built for that. They didn't have the infrastructure resources. You know, the character that I played in Come From Away, my primary character was Oz Fudge, who was one of the town police officers, a constable. And they had two police officers in Gander total. Wow. Yeah. So we're dealing with a city that does not have the infrastructure, but luckily they had the heart.

[19:07] Geno Carr: Now, this beautiful experience was commemorated with a 10 year reunion. So in 2011, Irene and David, the composers writing duo, go to this reunion and interview as many people as they can. And like you said earlier in interviewing everyone, they have almost too much material. And so then it seems to me that the process of creating this musical was just narrowing down what information are we going to use to tell the story? One of the things that I think is really smart about the way that this show is constructed, and it kind of sounds like a backhanded compliment, but the score feels to me like it just gets out of the way of the story. It doesn't mean it's not exciting. It doesn't mean that it's not pleasing to listen to.

On the contrary, it's thrilling. And it has that heartbeat of these Celtic rhythms and all of you incredible performers, which, you know, sound amazing up there. And yet there are very few places to applaud. Very few, quote unquote, songs with a beginning and end. It's this very theatrical magic trick that just keeps going and constantly spitting out information from just a handful of people on stage playing essentially 16,000 people. Yeah, it's kind of magical, right? I mean, it was and it was so purposefully done. The whole time was about the simplification of the storytelling, making sure it was painfully clear and that theatricality of we are storytellers. We are going to, you know, tell you this story.

It is not about like, as you said, sort of these these numbers and then button and a number and then button there throughout the course of the development of the show. There were other numbers that had, you know, buttons and applause breaks. And we sort of kept trimming them away. And, you know, there was talk about, well, there should be an intermission if it's going to be on Broadway. We got to sell concessions. And, you know, it was absolutely not the people in Gander couldn't leave. This audience needs to be sort of feel that same containment, that same drive, that same intensity. I love that. And it came from the writing team, the producers. I mean, it was never a battle for, you know, commercial profits for this, which is great.

So the whole thing was incredibly deliberate and so artfully shaped. Isn't that that's so cool because it's just dripping with empathy. And yet and yet to hear that it was so intelligently and analytically put together makes my OCD heart really happy. Right. It made mine as well. I mean, you know, the show, when you watch it, it's simple storytelling. It's just 12 actors, three tables, 13 chairs. But the precision of what had to happen is also incredibly complex. It looks effortless. But as a performer makes me break out into a sweat when I think about possibly being a swing. Right. Are you kidding me? I know each of them covered four or five of our principal tracks, which is I mean, imagine learning one of our tracks, maybe two.

So it's yeah, it's one of those where God bless them. They are some of the most incredible, intelligent artists I've ever come in contact with because I could never do it. I had hundreds of performances to get it in my body. Thank God, because I would have screwed the pooch on it opening night if I hadn't because it's so complicated. But part of the whole joy of the show is that it is fun as an actor to toss the ball over to you and they toss the ball back to me. And then, you know, we keep the energy going. And Chris was very, very adamant about keeping the story moving. He never wanted the audience to get ahead of us. He never wanted the audience to, you know, know what was coming next or to sit back.

He wanted them to be ready to applaud and go, oh, oh, I can't applaud yet. Oh, OK. Now, at the end of the show, suddenly there's this huge cacophony of applause and excitement because this release of pressure and joy and excitement comes out at the end of the show because there is this sense of hope because it's catharsis, of course.

[23:20] Geno Carr: Yeah. And it's it was always a good show. But when we got to Broadway, it was it was a great show. So you guys end up on Broadway by, I think, is it March of 2017? Yeah. Yeah. We officially opened March 12th, 2017. And I mean, you're a hit. Yeah. Big time. And what an emotional season on Broadway, by the way, because not only was it you guys, but it was Dear Evan Hansen as well, both of which turned me into puddles. Yeah. And so my goodness, what what beautiful theater you guys had that year. You are nominated for many, many Tony Awards as a show. Chris Ashley, your director, wins for your best director. Is there anything you want to share about the whole Tony Awards experience? That was your first time going through it.

Yeah. I mean, what do you I mean, the Tony Awards, it's just one of those. This can't be real. This kind of, you know, you see it on TV or you hear about it or you hear the term Tony Award winner or, you know, Tony nominated performance. And but to be a part of a show to begin with is great to be a part of a show.

[24:24] Geno Carr: On Broadway is even better. But to be a part of a show that is a hit and is nominated for all these Tony Awards and you get to perform in Radio City Music Hall in front of 5,000 people on national television. And the chaos of backstage is unimaginable to people watching at home. But then as soon as that, you know, the big LEDs, I say the curtain goes up, but it wasn't, it was like a big screen of TVs and, you know, LED stuff that go up this huge expensive wall. But then once that happens, you're just, you're just doing your show again. And you're just with those same people telling that same story. So it was incredibly comfortable, in a way. And it also, it still doesn't seem real. It seems like one of those actor fantasies, you wake up in the morning, oh, that would have been great if that happened.

But it did happen. I got to, you know, to be there and do that. And, and we didn't win as many Tonys as we had, you know, of course hoped. But as you said, it was an incredible season. That was a, it was a very, very tight. There were 13 new musicals in our, our Tony season. But for us, it was just so amazing that our, you know, quote, unquote, little show, it was just one of those whirlwind, incredible journeys that are just, just unforgettable. And I'm not sure I could ever do anything like that again, if I ever went back to Broadway, and did another Tony Awards. I don't know. I don't know if it would be as good. It would just be so different. I'd still do it. I still do it. Yeah.

[25:51] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: They called and you were like, I don't know you guys like the first time was so special. It'll never be Come From Away.

[26:02] Geno Carr: I remember being so happy when you guys won Best Director though, because I felt like it was such a great representation for what made your show so special for you guys to win a bunch of disparate awards that, you know, lighting here, choreography there, whatever, but for it to all kind of rest in Christopher Ashley's hands, literally that award felt like such a great symbol of what made your show special that season.

[26:26] Geno Carr: Yeah, he certainly shepherded, shepherded, yeah, shepherded this show. What's great about Chris is he's an incredible artist and empathetic human. But he also studied math. So he's a mathematician. And one of the great strengths that he brought to the show was that, you know, if we do this year, plus that we're going to get this. It was artistic math, mathematics, which is really cool to be in the room for and be, you know, listen to the process of because we were always included. But for Chris to win the Tony for that it was extraordinarily special for us just because we had been on this journey with him for so long and knew how much heart and how much brain he put into it and how, you know, generous he was with us and how kind. So great. The show's a hit. And I mean, it was running up until Coronavirus. It's still on Broadway, technically, right?

[27:23] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: It is indeed. So that's been three years now, over three years of sold out crowds on the Broadway. What I'm also really grateful for is you guys put together a kick butt original cast album that you can just put on from track one and listen to the whole show and experience the show.

[27:37] Geno Carr: Yeah. Did you guys have to basically kind of rewrite the show in order to turn it into an album? So the yeoman's work went to our writing team, David and Irene, as well as Ian Eisendrath, who was our music director and music supervisor, August Eriksmoen, who was our arranger, they had to figure out a way to condense it, but also keep the cohesion of the narrative, at least present enough that people wouldn't go, well, wait, what now what's happening? Why are they in a bar suddenly singing, there had to be some kind of a narrative thread that would continue to keep it all together. So when we, and again, we have been doing the show for a long time at that point, the cast, we had eight hours in the studio to record the entire cast recording, which is not enough time, especially considering that all 12 of us were there for basically all eight hours.

There are very few solo duets without some sort of a choral, you know, support system to them. So it was an exhausting eight hours, but the amount of work that the team put into it to create that cohesion and to make sure that it, as you said, you can put it on and listen to it and know what's happening and get the idea behind it was so important. And we were so grateful that they did all that work because, you know, it was hard work, but when we got in there, we knew what we were doing and we knew we had a great representation of our show. If there's anybody out there who hasn't seen the show or who doesn't know about it, I really recommend you checking out the cast album and just kind of experiencing it because not only is it great, but it's incredibly relevant to right now. And when I took a second to reacquaint myself with it and study it over the past week or so, I really found a lot.

[29:31] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Now, if you haven't already picked up on this, the show happens on 9-11 and I wanted to ask you what you were doing on 9-11.

[29:37] Geno Carr: We were actually in D.C., another, of course, horrible place to be that day, rehearsing for the national tour of the Buddy Holly story. All of these New Yorkers were transplanted down to D.C. and, you know, are kind of stuck there during this time of tragedy. And we were set to fly out on September 13th to Anchorage, Alaska, to go tech the show. And we got pushed back a little bit there, but it was, of course, for everyone an intense time. But for all of us being New Yorkers, but then also being in D.C., but being together, it was just sort of this incredible support system.

[30:17] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I've said on the podcast before, I've talked about what I was doing at 9-11. I was an LDS missionary at the time. And so I was already in kind of like this high entropy experience. It's new every day and you're constantly meeting people and you're in weird situations that make you uncomfortable and you're just being like, all right, let's do it. Yeah. So there's that. But also there's a complete lack of media in your life. You're not watching TV. You're not reading the newspaper. It's actually kind of against the rules. So 9-11 is actually a very, it's an experience that I don't have a lot of visceral emotional reactions to, not like a lot of other people.

[31:05] Geno Carr: Sure.

[31:06] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And so honestly, the way that I'm able to emotionally process that experience is through pieces like this, because it lets me in a lot on what I wasn't aware of what's happening at the time. And I was wondering if this experience has helped you process that time in any in a different way than, say, for me.

[31:22] Geno Carr: Yeah, absolutely. Having been more directly sort of affected, as you said, sort of viscerally by the events, it's a wound. There is a wound there that continues. But what was so amazing about Come From Away and, of course, the stories it's based on was that against this backdrop of these terrible events, this darkest visage of humanity, there is this goodness, this hope that that was there as well. It's painfully relevant right now where we're in this world that there's a lot of stuff going on and there's only so much you can do. It's out there. What do you do? What do you focus on? Mr. Rogers said, look for the helpers. That was something that David and Irene always said is something that drove them in this piece was this story is about the helpers. These are people who were willing to help no matter what. And that's just how they were programmed. And to them, it wasn't a big deal. But to the vast majority of the rest of us, it was a huge deal.

[32:19] Geno Carr: The show, to me, has a lot of similarities to, say, A Chorus Line, which is a show I just got done doing. And so maybe that's why it was on my mind. But even down to its inception, right, that it was created through all of these interviews, the kind of realism and candid acting style, naturalistic even acting style, very much remind me of A Chorus Line. If you're pushing or if you're doing any, quote unquote, actory thing, it doesn't work. Right. And you guys just were able to nail that tone, I think, just perfectly.

[33:03] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: What I would love to do, usually in the show, we go through the whole plot. That is a little impossible for me to do, at least with this show, because there is so much story.

[33:10] Geno Carr: Yeah.

[33:11] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And because so much of the writing is literally just someone spitting out information to you. That instead, I would like to go through with you and talk about the characters, about some of the main people that we meet through these stories. So in the town, in the show, we have the mayor who, much like a small town mayor, probably had no idea what he was signing up for when this happened. But God bless him. And at his side is Officer Oz, who was played by you, of course. I know that his name's Oz, but I just would rather refer to you as Officer STFD. I feel like that's a better title, right?

[34:02] Geno Carr: I think that's sort of what everyone calls Oz at this point. The joke of the show, or it's right at the beginning of the show, actually. It's the first sort of speech that Oz has. It's one of the first big insights into these people. Things are happening, but they're also really funny. The show is going to be a fun ride, as well as a cathartic ride. It was a great way to find that balance, is this opening speech that Oz has. The vast majority of what's in the show is verbatim, if not very close to verbatim. This is something that Oz would do. He would pull people over, and instead of giving a ticket, he gives them a warning ticket. On the ticket, he would just write STFD. For the first chunk of time, people were just like, I don't know what this means. Do I owe you money? What does this mean? He goes, no, slow the **** down. Then it became a bit of a regional joke. Once the show hit, it became a much bigger regional joke, and you couldn't write them anymore.

[35:04] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: That's fantastic. I don't know how I didn't mention this yet. I was so bogged down in the pathos of this show. It's freaking hilarious.

[35:11] Geno Carr: Yeah, it's a very funny show. I laughed out loud several times, full belly laugh.

[35:15] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Yeah, it's very funny.

[35:17] Geno Carr: Okay, also in the town, you got Beulah. How can you not love Beulah?

[35:20] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I know. Right?

[35:22] Geno Carr: She works at the Academy.

[35:24] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Gander Academy, yep.

[35:26] Geno Carr: And she also has an assistant. I forget her name. It starts with an A.

[35:30] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Oh, Annette.

[35:31] Geno Carr: Annette, well done. It's like you've done the show for a couple of years.

[35:34] Geno Carr: I only did it 1,200 times. You've also got Bonnie. Bonnie works with all the animals.

[35:39] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: At the SPCA, yep. What does that stand for?

[35:42] Geno Carr: Society for the Preservation... Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals.

[35:45] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: Cruelty Against Animals, there you go. Yep.

[35:47] Geno Carr: Boom. You knew it, see?

[35:48] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: I doubted myself. So those are some of my favorites of the town. Now, they are all living their lives, right, until they hear that all of these planes are landing and they have all of these people to take care of. And of course, what I do love about the show is that it makes sure to give time to the nuance of the situation. There were people in town who were like, why do they have to come here? Why can't they go to Toronto, where they could actually be absorbed? And I love that quote when the mayor says, well, if anything goes wrong here, we've got a lot less people to lose. Because at this point, every plane was being considered a bomb.

[36:21] Geno Carr: Right.

[36:22] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: So we're just going to treat every single plane in the sky at this point like it's a bomb threat. So let's send them all to Gander, I guess. There's a lot of empty space.

[36:29] Geno Carr: Yep.

[36:30] Jeffrey Scott Parsons: And just kind of the starkness of that realization, but also being willing to laugh at it is

[36:37] Geno Carr: Now we have all of these people in the plane and you guys are also playing these people from all over the world who were trapped on these airplanes, right up to 28 hours on these planes without being able to leave.

[36:49] Jeff Parsons: Yeah.

[36:50] Geno Carr: I mean, some of them would had taken off from Europe and by the time they circled for a while and then were set down and they had to wait to get, you know, all the security in place to, as you said, make sure that people weren't, you know, carrying bombs or bringing venom out of the plane. So there were some people who were on planes for 28 hours straight. Crazy, there's this hilarious montage about what do you do on a plane for 28? You watch every movie they have on there. I think they break out the booze pretty early on. Yeah, I got to play a drunk guy on the plane. It was great. Fantastic. Some of my favorite characters on the plane include Kevin and Kevin, obviously. Kevin and Kevin are boyfriends.

They're both named Kevin, which you know is always it's a recipe for disaster. Never date somebody that has your same name. You like you think it's gonna be cute on Instagram. Just don't do it. It's not, it's never cute, but they're also really great characters trying to figure out, okay, we've landed in this small town. Do we tell people we're gay? Like are we going to get gay bashed? What's going to happen? They end up having a really actually two very different experiences, one who kind of embraces the generosity and love of this town, the other one who really is, I think, grieving in a way that doesn't allow him to do so.

[38:12] Jeff Parsons: Yes, I agree. Yep. Absolutely.

[38:12] Geno Carr: But it is kind of cute that when they finally do let it slip that they're together, all of these people in the town start talking about how they know people who are gay. And there's this great line where he says, wow, I somehow we found the gayest town in Newfoundland. Must be something in the water. And then one of the locals says, that's why I only drink beer. It's one of the funniest little scenes in the whole show. I love being in that scene.

[38:36] Jeff Parsons: Oh, great. Then we have Hannah.

[38:40] Geno Carr: Hannah is a character who received a new song right before you went to Broadway, right?

[38:46] Jeff Parsons: That's right.

[38:46] Geno Carr: And she has a son who is a firefighter, a New York City firefighter. Yeah, and she's obviously incredibly worried about him. One thing that I always forget is that there was a life before cell phones.

[39:00] Jeff Parsons: Yeah, one of the big points of this show is that everybody wants to call their loved one, but like people didn't have cell phones. So it was how do we even make contact with the world? And now what's fascinating is that in this pandemic, in this kind of crisis that we're facing, all we have now is our phones. It's just like a complete 180, I know everything is technology driven now.

[39:22] Geno Carr: What's really beautiful is Bula, the beauty, and Hannah become very close. Yeah, because they both have sons who are firefighters, correct? And Bula sees that Hannah, you know, is so distraught about not knowing if her son is okay that they stay with each other for like the next three days. One of the people that is for sure 100% true is Beverly Bass, correct? And she's an extraordinary character, a true-life character, but she is number one, one of your one of the show's biggest fans.

[39:59] Jeff Parsons: Yes, yep, super fan.

[40:00] Geno Carr: She's one of the first female airline pilots, commercial of all time and certainly the first in American Airlines history.

[40:10] Jeff Parsons: That's right.

[40:10] Geno Carr: Kind of a tough broad from Texas with a husband and kids, but just found her passion flying planes. Everyone who was there, of course, was incredible and theatrical, but to have Beverly also be there just given her history and what a trailblazer she was and sort of a, you know, a lighthouse for females in aviation. But to have her happen to sort of be there, it's a strange coincidence if nothing else to have her be woven into this story and to be there, as you said, sort of a tough broad. And the thing that she loved the most in life was planes. I mean, that was her passion since she was a young girl. Then to have the thing that she loved the most be something that was used as a weapon to fly into these buildings and to murder all these people.

[41:05] Jeff Parsons: And she, yeah, she loves the show. First time she came and saw it, she just bawled the whole "Me in the Sky" song, which is almost verbatim their interview that she and David and Irene had together because she didn't know she, they'd done interviews and asked her questions and she knew there was a show and that she was in it. And then suddenly this beautiful, incredible anthem song for women comes on and she and just her whole family are bawling because they had no idea it was going to be her words and how powerful her story was, especially in this context. It was something very special to be a part of.

[41:44] Geno Carr: And "Me in the Sky" is probably the song of the show that has now a life outside of the show.

[41:50] Jeff Parsons: Mm-hmm.

[41:50] Geno Carr: That was what reached my ears first and there was always a lot of hype surrounding it and seeing it in the context of the show lives up to all the hype. What an extraordinary song. Jen Colella is an extraordinary performer. I can't imagine anybody else doing it. I'm sure many women can also do it beautifully, but what is so amazing to me about the way that she performed that song was she is strong and belting her guts out and yet so at ease as though she was in some nice comfy slippers spilling her soul to just like her friend, but it's actually to a theater full of people with a thrilling band playing a kick-ass song.

[42:43] Jeff Parsons: It does, it does.

[42:44] Geno Carr: And she is that human. She is just everything, all of those things, you know, she's vulnerable, she's powerful, she's confident, she's soft, she's generous, she's loving, she's firm. I mean, it's just she is that person. And that song, you know, was written not for her, but as she began to sing it, they, you know, changed the key to fit in her voice better. And yeah, everyone who sings it is of course wonderful, but there is something always to be said for when a song is written for the first person it's sort of meant to be written for in that context. There is something very special about it. And the way the show is staged, I got to sit on stage sort of as a bit of a Greek chorus in that horseshoe in the dark behind.

And just all 1200 shows I did, I watched her or, you know, a handful of others. There were not that many other people who did our roles throughout the course of the history of the show. Got to be a part of that. Didn't get to sing it, didn't get to stand up and clap and sing, but I got to just be in that space. And she is one of the most painfully consistent and like almost to the point of like, are you kidding me? Your state shows a week, three years? You're doing that? And her voice was just always on spot, but it was also every single time just as powerful. She never phoned it in. She just never came in and relied on the vocals. It was always that package deal that you hope and dream it'll be when you go see somebody like, yeah, she is Christmas morning and that song every single time.

[44:17] Jeff Parsons: That's so cool.

[44:17] Geno Carr: One of my favorite parts of watching the song live, talking about this communal experience that we have in theater, it's very specifically constructed so that there is no applause at the end of the song. It goes directly into, you know, a scene. However, every time that I've seen the show and or like bootleg versions of the song, the audience breaks out into applause not because she sings a high note, not because it's the end of the song, but because she just lists an accomplishment. All she says is I'm, I was the first, you know, woman to fly in American Airlines and they couldn't help themselves. They had to applaud.

[45:01] Jeff Parsons: How special.

[45:01] Geno Carr: I know, so it's incredible again, this sort of the zeitgeist of the show, the timing of it was incredible in many ways, but not the least of which is this power anthem about being a strong woman and it's, that's okay. And you know, there was something very special about that, that many audiences resonated with vocally and, and you know, in terms of applause and response and rightfully so. It's an incredibly important story and an important moment in the show.

[45:25] Jeff Parsons: Who else we got on the plane?

[45:30] Geno Carr: We have Ali. Yes, Ali now. Ali is Egyptian and what a heartbreaking story he goes through. So he's really wanting to help and everyone's kind of afraid to talk to him. And then finally he's like, can I please help cook the food? I'm literally an award-winning hotel.

[45:48] Jeff Parsons: So yeah, exactly.

[45:49] Geno Carr: And then at the end, heartbreaking when it is time for everybody to go home, they have the clear to take off again. They won't let him on without doing a complete strip search, which in his culture is forbidden.

[46:10] Jeff Parsons: It's forbidden for anyone to see him, I think from the navel to his knee.

[46:14] Geno Carr: That's right. Unless they're his wife, right? And so to be doing that and then also have Beverly Bass in the room because she's the captain is just the strange culture clash of people trying to be themselves, but it seems like no matter what you're doing, something wrong by being who you are.

[46:35] Jeff Parsons: It's sometimes unfair. This happened and Beverly spoke to us about it, how she said, I mean, it was the last thing I wanted to do. I did not want to have to do that. I didn't know how to do that.

[46:44] Geno Carr: I didn't know how to do it.

[46:46] Jeff Parsons: She said, I mean, it was the last thing I wanted to do. I did not want to have to do that. I didn't know how to be in there.

[46:50] Geno Carr: And she said, but I had to. It was my job as a captain to be in that room and be sure that the check was done appropriately because it's my plane. And if anything happened, it would be my fault. The buck stops there. And for Ali, it was just, you know, doubly, triply, quadruply humiliating. And that was an arc that was one of the arcs that kind of was crafted throughout the course of the multiple rehearsal processes that we did in the changes was that Ali's track was finessed a little bit too because sometimes there wasn't a lot in the show that you're like, well, there's not that much drama really. I mean, yeah, they don't want to be there. They're worried about home, but it's also like this is kind of fun.

They're a little micro dramas, but it wasn't like your normal good guy bad guy clashing throughout the course of a musical. And so that was one of the things that David and Irene and Chris and the whole team wanted to be sure about was that people were reminded like it wasn't all rainbows and butterflies and unicorns. There were people were scared. There were dangerous things. There was unknowns and Ali's sort of arc throughout the course of it got fleshed out a bit so that we could be reminded of that, that it wasn't just, oh, they get to go home. It's like, well, yeah, but when they get home, what's gonna happen now? He has to go back home and go back to work and his daughter, he has to drop off at school and she says she's scared to go in.

[48:06] Jeff Parsons: Right, you know, there's still a lot to work through in the world and for Ali especially it was a difficult return to the United States into American life.

[48:16] Geno Carr: I really like also how those moments of reality are given to say what it's like to be charitable. So this town is receiving huge shipments of food to take care of everybody, right? But then the reality is there's no place to refrigerate the food, right? Like they didn't ship refrigerators with all of those donations. And so then what do you do? Well, in Canada, you use the hockey rink, which I think is just brilliant.

[49:19] Geno Carr: There was this division in America. Suddenly our show comes in and talks about, no, what about not being afraid of the other person? What about, you know, taking care of each other? What about reaching across? And even though you may be nervous or not sure, listen to that person. So the show, every step of the way had so many, you know, amazing moments of wait, how did that happen? This is crazy timing. This is just unreal. It's like Narnia. I mean, Narnia. How on earth would you write a musical about 9-11? You know what I mean? Like, it seems insane. And then this kind of presents itself. And you think, oh, of course, this is the way to tell that story. I can't wait to discover what the inspired ways to tell the stories about what we're going through that are actually better told through the stories of other people, not necessarily the ones who are at ground zero, for example.

[50:09] Jeff Parsons: Absolutely.

[50:10] Geno Carr: It's so poignant and relatable and approachable. It's much easier to explore this national tragedy, this worldwide tragedy through Gander than I think it even is through New York City.

[50:24] Jeff Parsons: Oh, absolutely.

[50:25] Geno Carr: What was incredible over and over again was, you know, students who would come even not even like younger people who had not been alive, you know, when 9-11 occurred and had heard about it, had read about it, had seen videos about it. But we would over and over get the feedback of like, I didn't get it. I mean, I didn't I knew it had happened. I knew it was bad. But there's a difference between living through something and being connected to something. And this is a great way to then have them get to live through it. But in a positive way, they understand what happened. But it's not about that as much as it's about, OK, this is what can happen. Even if those things are happening.

[51:01] Geno Carr: Because I'm a farm boy, I have to talk a little bit about the animals. So it turns out, of course, there are animals on these airplanes. Of course. And Bonnie to the rescue. She ends up going like crawling into all of these airplanes to find if there are any animals. And she finds eight dogs, nine cats and two chimpanzees. Right. Once again, you can't make this stuff up.

[51:27] Jeff Parsons: No, not only does she find two chimps, one of them is pregnant. Like, are you serious?

[51:33] Geno Carr: I'm just pregnant. Rare bonobo chimpanzee. And all of the stress, of course, affects the animals. And so the chimpanzee goes into labor and loses the child, which is very sad. But then the chimps go to a zoo. Is it in Ohio? Is that right?

[51:49] Jeff Parsons: Yeah. Columbus Zoo.

[51:49] Geno Carr: And she ends up having a new baby. And they name the baby what?

[51:54] Jeff Parsons: Gander. Yep.

[51:57] Geno Carr: I know. And the dog, Ralph, goes on to be a champion cocker spaniel. I mean, it's just like all of these things. You're like, how is this possible? You can't write it because you don't have to write it. It really happened. You don't like. And if anybody was like, yeah, right. You're like, check the receipts. It's all there. People all the time after the show and say, was that real? Did that really happen? We're like, yeah, everything that happened really happened. People did not believe us half the time.

[52:21] Jeff Parsons: Well, like any good piece of art, I find that it's often reflective of the society in which it's originally produced. But then as life continues and the world changes, you find new ways to relate to it. And we've already talked a little bit about it being a very relatable piece because of the 2016 election, the, you know, huge division in our country. But now here we are in 2020 with a pandemic. And I got a little sad this morning. We like listening to the show because I was like, oh, what I wouldn't give to like cook breakfast for some strangers right now. You know what I mean? Like one of the hard things about this is that sometimes I just want to do something to make myself feel better. And I've been told the thing to do is to not do anything.

One of the really beautiful lines in the show is that at the 10 year reunion of this whole thing in Gander, they say we are commemorating what we lost, but we're celebrating what we found. And I think I realized this morning, I'm not sure if I know what I found yet through this whole quarantine experience. I know what I'm working through, but it really inspired within me that as we come away from it, I'm not only commemorating what has been lost and so many people have died, but also celebrating hopefully some new things that I found. I don't know what those are yet, but.

[53:51] Geno Carr: Well, and sometimes that comes with hindsight. I mean, you're talking about what they said on the 10th anniversary, right? They did as time moved on. They were able to look back and go, yeah, I mean, we had so many of these amazing relationships formed and bonds and experiences together against this backdrop of something horrible. But it's looking back on it and saying, oh, you know what? I learned something through that experience. That's beautiful. Thank you for sharing that.

[54:16] Jeff Parsons: Oh, thank you. Oh, I guess there's also Nick and Diane.

[54:21] Geno Carr: I can. Oh, yeah. Love Nick and Diane.

[54:24] Geno Carr: So Nick and Diane. Nick is from London. Diane is from Texas. And they are strangers who meet and start talking and they end up married.

[54:38] Jeff Parsons: Yes, they do.

[54:39] Geno Carr: And coming to see the show 100 times.

[54:40] Jeff Parsons: Yes, I know. No way you've met Nick and Diane.

[54:45] Geno Carr: We've met basically everybody who's referred to in the show. Some of the minor characters we haven't. But yeah. Oh, no, they came well over 100 times. Beverly came 150 something times by the time I left. I mean, I'm not sure now how many times I've seen it. But no, they're they are still just as much in love as they were during the days following 9-11. It is incredible. It's so sweet.

[55:08] Jeff Parsons: Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Geez. What a cool experience. How are you planning to pass this on to your son as he gets old enough to understand what this was?

[55:17] Geno Carr: Well, gosh, I mean, I hope I'm being the kind of father that that sort of Gander was to those people. You know, I hope I'm being loving and generous and open and not afraid. So, yeah, I mean, I think that's that's the idea is think about other people as well. And that's again, it's kind of reflective of what's happening right now in our world. There are a lot of people who are like we're taking care of ourselves, not just because we don't want to get sick. Of course, that's part of it. But the idea of all this is stay at home so you don't get sick and you don't get other people sick and they don't get other people sick. And then the people out there right now who, you know, don't want to do that.

And they say, well, it's my freedom. I should be able to make my choice. And we can, you know, you know, argue politics all you want. But at the same time, it's this idea of what about the other people around you? Yes, you should have your life and your freedoms. But at the cost of what around you. So I think for me, that's an important thing to instill in youth, especially when they're in these formative years is don't there are other people. Think about other people. How does that make her feel when you just said that to her? And I hope that's something he'll, you know, grow up and be a nice kid. Be a nice guy. I'd like that.

[56:27] Jeff Parsons: It does kind of go to show that you can't legislate kindness. We try and legislate against hate. But truly, we learn kindness from receiving love. And I think from art that can be very healing and soul enlarging. This show is a particularly good example of that, of would we have taken care of these people? OK, there's hope in this world. If they can do it, I can do it. If I can do it, he can do it. If he can do it, she can do it. And maybe that we always talk about this ripple effect. That was when we talked about a lot during the show is that one little, you know, stone in the pond causes the whole pond to send out these, you know, circular ripples. And every time we finish the show, every single time I did it, it always felt like, you know, we did it.

Yes, the applause at the end of the show happens. And but it was knowing that we had sent goodness out into the world. We had told a story about kindness. We just sent a thousand people, you know, in that show out into the world, hopefully being kinder.

[57:29] Jeff Parsons: Amen. So let's talk a little bit about the ripples before we end here. After everybody left, there was a scholarship created for the town.

[57:40] Geno Carr: Yeah. Over the course of the 10 years in between the events and the 10 year reunion, it came back and it was I mean, yeah, and it's continued to be more and more money, millions of dollars in scholarships for the people of Gander and Newfoundland, the surrounding communities. Again, it's a way for someone to say, how can I do anything to help pay back what they did when it just became this snowball of generosity? That's still to this day provides provides money for students. Any other ripples that you can think of of what have come from the story in real life applications or even maybe with audience members that have experienced it through the musical?

[58:19] Geno Carr: Yeah, I mean, there was so many people at the stage door and coming back to see the show again and talking about what the show had done for them and hearing stories of people, you know, taking that money like like Kevin T. Did and, you know, saying here's here's one hundred dollars. Go out and just do random acts of kindness for people. People come back and tell stories that they had done that. They had taken that lesson and said, I can do that. Why can't I just take one hundred dollars and I'll break it up in different bills and go buy you coffee? I'm going to go buy you a burger. I'm going to give this money to this person here. I'm going to give this kid 20 bucks to go buy that gift for his mom.

Just finding the ways that that they felt was sending out joy and sending out kindness and generosity. Every every show has good things that come of it. Fans that enjoy it. But our show, as I said earlier, sort of this nobler purpose of trying to put out that goodness, it always felt like we were doing that. We were sending out goodness into the world.

[59:14] Jeff Parsons: But also it was people were like, OK, I will spend money to come see that show eight times, 200 times, whatever it is. Incredible. Congratulations on being part of musical theater history and one that not only paid off personally, but artistically as well.

[59:30] Geno Carr: Well, thank you. It's you know, it's an extraordinarily special story, extraordinarily special show based on that story. The people all came from a good place. And so all these good things happened thanks to this, you know, this goodness. And that's not always the way it works. So it is a special piece of theater because it tells good stories about good people doing good things.

[59:54] Jeff Parsons: Thank you, Geno.

[59:55] Geno Carr: You're welcome. Thank you, Jeff. I appreciate it.

[59:58] Jeff Parsons: As always, if you have any suggestions of shows you'd like us to cover on A Musical Theatre Podcast, you can always email me at amusicalpodcast@gmail.com. Also, be sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter at amusicalpodcast for more great content. Don't forget to check out our T-Public store for lots of fun designs inspired by past episodes. Geno, how can we follow you?

[1:00:20] Geno Carr: I'm super easy. Geno Carr on the Instagram, the Twitter and the Facebook. Just G-E-N-O-C-A-R-R. And I have a website, genocarr.com. I'm all Geno Carr all the time.

[1:00:31] Jeff Parsons: Let's see. What should our tagline be?

[1:00:33] Geno Carr: Oh, boy. Goodbye from the rock.

[1:00:36] Jeff Parsons: Yeah. All right. We're on the rock.

[1:00:38] Geno Carr: Wait, what does that be?