Canberra actor Kaya Byrne to return home in Broadway hit musical Come From Away

Take Canberra's Kaya Byrne, for example. The newest addition to the Come From Away cast - which heads to the Canberra Theatre Centre in November - has five roles that he has to cover in the show.

Inspired by true events, Come From Away follows the journey of 7000 air passengers, who became stranded in Gander, Newfoundland in Canada in the wake of September 11.

It tells the story of how, after 38 planes are ordered to land unexpectedly after the attacks, this small community welcomes the "come from aways" into their lives and homes.

With a character list of 12, each standby covers four to five roles, but specialise in about two of them. For Bryne, this is Kevin T - an airline passenger who was diverted to Gander - and Oz, who is one of the only police officers in the small town.

"It's been a great exercise as an actor and as a performer to have to pick up so much information and compartmentalise it so that I'm not doing what I do for Kevin when I'm playing Oz - such as accidentally moving this chair or saying his lines or even singing his harmony line," Byrne says.

"I think my two primary covers in this show have got to be my two favourite roles to do. They're so different from each other. Kevin T is a bit of a plot driver. He has much more of a linear plotline.

"Whereas as Oz, he's one of the two police officers in this very small town. And that character is so much fun because there's so much heart in all of the Newfoundland characters."

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Byrne and the rest of the Come From Away cast and crew are currently in Sydney, waiting for the lockdown to lift so they can return to the stage.

It's not the first time the show's run has been interrupted because of the pandemic. The musical first opened in Melbourne in 2019, where it enjoyed nine months of critical acclaim before being cut short by Covid. It then returned in January 2021 - the first of the musical's international companies to return to the stage after the pandemic - before it headed to Brisbane and Sydney.

It was the musical's initial run in Melbourne that Byrne was first introduced to Come From Away.

"I didn't know much about it going in. I think that's the case for many people. It's got such worldwide acclaim, yet, it still feels slightly unknown for many," he says.

"I went in not really knowing much and then someone was like, it's about 9/11, and so I was expecting a really grim, rough story. And I was shocked. It was one of the funniest shows I've ever seen. It was so overwhelmingly wholesome. And I just left being like my heart was full.

"Especially now, after last year particularly, I think it just hits different. It takes on a different meaning after we've all gone through a collective experience like 2020."

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