娱乐英语新闻:Broadway musical "Come from Away" to tour China

BEIJING, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Broadway musical "Come from Away," paying tribute to bonhomie and benevolence in humanity, is set for China tour from April to June 2020.

The musical is based on a heartwarming true story of 7,000 stranded passengers and a small town of Gander in Canada's Newfoundland that welcomed them.

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the international airport in Gander took in 38 airplanes which were diverted to Canada when the U.S. airspace was shut down.

Overnight, close to 7,000 hungry, tired and scared passengers flooded into this small burg with a population shy of 10,000. Along with them were cultural clashes and soaring nerves.

However, in merely five days, all uneasiness turned into trust and gratitude grew into enduring friendships.

Ten years after the attacks, Canadian married writing team Irene Sankoff and David Hein visited Gander and extensively interviewed witnesses, creating the musical based on close to 16,000 stories.

The musical proved to be a hit and captured the Tony Award for best direction and earned several Laurence Olivier Awards.

"To people who are struggling with life, a tiny gesture of goodwill is enough to pull them back from the brink of an abyss," said Yu Xinyue, a manager with the Shenzhen-based ACO Musical, the China tour's producer.