Justin Trudeau to Attend Broadway Musical ‘Come From Away’<br />By MICHAEL PAULSONMARCH 4, 2017<br />Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, who has championed the arts and welcomed refugees while in office, said on Saturday he would visit Broadway to see a new musical<br />that highlights Canadian generosity toward stranded airline passengers in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.<br />The founder of the project, Michael Rubinoff, said "Come From Away" is only the fifth musical with a Canadian writing team to reach Broadway,<br />after "Billy Bishop Goes to War" in 1980, "Rockabye Hamlet" in 1976, "The Drowsy Chaperone" in 2006 and "The Story of My Life" in 2009.<br />Rubinoff said that This is extremely culturally significant, having a Canadian<br />musical, written by Canadians about Canadians, on Broadway — that’s historic,<br />"Welcoming refugees, kindness — these are issues he’s been championing since he’s been prime minister,<br />and those themes speak to him now more than ever, given the international political climate." The show has had multiple pre-Broadway productions — at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, Seattle Repertory Theater, Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C., and the Royal Alexandra Theater in Toronto.<br />The show was nurtured by the Canadian Music Theater Project at Sheridan College near<br />Toronto, which is trying to cultivate more musical theater by Canadian writers.<br />He said the musical would probably appeal to Mr. Trudeau both<br />because of his interest in the arts — he once taught high school drama — and because of his political agenda.
