When Sue Frost of Old Lyme looks at a new musical to decide if she will produce it or not, she considers three principles.

One: “Is this a show people need to see now?”

Two: “Is this a show I can see a hundred of times—because that’s what I’m going to have to do over time.”

And finally: “Is this a show I’d be proud to put my energy behind? As an independent producer who does one show at a time, that’s critical for me.”

For the Tony Award-winning producer of Memphis and other musicals in New York and around the country, Frost says that all three principles were there for her latest show, Come From Away, which is now in previews on Broadway, opening Sunday, March 12.

The $12 million musical is an unusual one in that it takes an unusual subject for its story: On the morning of 9/11, 38 planes were re-routed to Gander, Newfoundland, a small town with a large air field, because of fear of more terrorist attacks on U.S. flights. More than 6,500 passengers arrived unsure of what exactly was going on and how long they would remain there. The hospitality of the 11,000-person community to the stunned strangers became the stuff of legend—and now the stuff of a musical.

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