‘Come From Away’ Music Director, Wendy Cavett

On Tuesday, September 21, when Come From Away reopened at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on Broadway, before the performance began, before the first note was played, the entire audience leapt to their feet. 

Each night, a few minutes before the musical begins, the band, which holds a key role during the the performance, assembles onstage. But this night was different. “The audience was so full of anticipation and gracious to the cast and band and ready to celebrate the reopening,” shares Come From Away’s music director Wendy Cavett who has been with the show since 2017.

Once the actors arrived on stage the standing ovation continued. “It was uproarious. Huge,” says Cavett. And what happened next? The cast turned to applauded the audience. 

“Every time an actor said their first solo line they got a huge round of applause,” added Cavett. “The whole opening was basically obliterated because when someone stepped forward to say something, everyone would applaud and you’d miss the line. But the tone and the heart of it was really beautiful.” 

Come From Away takes place in Gander, a town on the island of Newfoundland. After the 9/11 attacks 38 planes containing 6,579 passengers and crew members, 11 dogs, nine cats and two endangered apes were diverted to Gander International Airport. And suddenly this small town with a giant-heart, which had fewer than 10,000 people, sprung into action. 

During five days Gander’s population exploded. Community buildings were transformed into shelters. The town called on its citizens for help for anything they could do. And they more than delivered.

Come From Away recounts how the lives of strangers intertwined in the most unimaginable and extraordinary ways. Throughout the Tony-winning show, which contains a toe-tapping, heart thumping, soul enriching original Celtic and folk-rock score, we learn about actual people who lived through it all or composites of them.  

For Cavett much of the joy of being in Come From Away is having an active role throughout. “The actors engage with the musicians during the show as they tell the story. That’s really special,” says Cavett. “There is a big appreciation for the music—it’s an essential part of the fabric of the story. That music is the music of Newfoundland and Canada.”  

An accomplished music director and conductor, Cavett’s Broadway and New York credits include Hamilton, Mamma Mia!, The Scarlet Pimpernel, A Year with Frog and Toad, The Most Happy Fella and A Tale of Two Cities. Cavett made history as the first female conductor of Hamilton. Before that she was with Mamma Mia! for 12 years and has worked extensively at theaters across the country and around the world. 

As a woman in a male-dominated industry Cavett feels a responsibility to those who are underrepresented in the field. “As we get lifted up, it’s my job as a woman to make sure I’m turning and looking for someone who is another nationality, color, background and making space for them,” she says. “In Broadway we need to grow and help develop future talent pools of people who don’t always have resources and access to training. We can help them to come into the community and have more equity.”

Jeryl Brunner: When did you start playing music?

Wendy Cavett: I come from a big blended family with ten children. Everyone in the family is an artist in some way or another. It was natural to be interested in music or TV or dance or visual arts. In my elementary school, they taught young students how to play the recorder. I taught myself how to play piano and learned how to read music. At home I had an old copy of John Thompson Teaching Little Fingers To Play and whipped through that book. Then I quickly moved to song books. In the way kids read children’s books, I would sight-read music books. 

From 8 to 12, I did children’s theater at a place that had been developed for inner city children all over Hartford and West Hartford. I started to accompany on the piano for the theater. The music director bought me a Sesame Street song book and then a Burt Bacharach one. So I learned all those songs like “One Less Bell To Answer.” I didn’t realize the skill I was learning was valuable.

Brunner: Did you continue performing?

Cavett: In high school I was also dancing. But I was evolving as a musician just by my own interest. I started studying piano and at the end of high school, I decided to go to Carnegie Mellon University to study music. I thought, well, if I don’t like music, I’ll just switch to acting, not realizing that they accept 14 people a year.

Brunner: What happened after you got to college?

Cavett: At Carnegie Mellon I met a bunch of really wonderful artists. The Civic light Opera, [also in Pittsburgh], is a great place for many Broadway music directors and performers. Through connections I made at Civic Light Opera, people brought me in to regional theaters and international tours. Don Jones, a music director who worked there several summers, was one of my mentors. He brought me in to do a couple of shows there. He died in 1995.

Also, when national tours would come through Pittsburgh, they’d hire local musicians. When A Chorus Line came to Pittsburgh, I met Doug Besterman, who is now a well-known orchestrator. He asked me to take over for him on A Chorus Line. From there he asked me to take over for him on the off-Broadway show, Up Against It, at the Public Theater.

Brunner: What can you share about the musical you are working on, SuperYou, with book, music and lyrics from Lourds Lane?

Cavett: SuperYou is a female superhero musical. It’s a journey of a young woman who reconnects with her dreams when her superhero creations come to life. I’m the music supervisor and co-arranger. Between TikTok, promotional videos and readings during the past 18 months, the team was so creative. We’re doing a reading at Tuacahn Center for the Arts in a few weeks and then we’ll do a production of the show in Spring of 2022. The plan is to bring it to New York after that. Stay tuned.