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Lisa Horner, seen here as Little Buttercup in HMS Pinafore, will play Beulah in the Canadian production of award-winning musical Come From Away.Cylla von Tiedemann

Come From Away has found its new cast for the upcoming Canadian production of the hit Broadway musical set in Newfoundland.

Twelve actors – a mix of musical theatre veterans and up-and-comers – will star in this second production of the Dora- and Drama Desk-winning show, which will play Winnipeg and Toronto in 2018, producers David Mirvish and Junkyard Dog Productions announced Wednesday.

Eliza-Jane Scott, recently seen at the Charlottetown Festival and in Soulpepper's Spoon River, has landed the plum role of female flight pioneer Beverley Bass – one of the pilots stranded in the town of Gander, Nfld., after 38 planes carrying 6,600 passengers were redirected there following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

George Masswohl (Canadian Stage's London Road, Young People's Theatre's Seussical) will play a series of real-life mayors in the show; first and foremost, mayor of Gander Claude Elliott.

Lisa Horner – a Stratford and Shaw Festival veteran who was the first actor to play on all four of Mirvish Productions' stages in Toronto – will take the role of local volunteer Beulah, while Canadian Idol finalist Steffi DiDomenicantonio will play local TV reporter Janice.

Jack Noseworthy and Ali Momen will play the Kevins, a couple whose relationship is tested during the unexpected layover, while Barbara Fulton and James Kall will play Diane and Nick, a pair of lonely passengers who bond during it.

Second City veteran Kevin Vidal is set to play the role of Bob, a New Yorker initially skeptical of Newfoundlanders' hospitality. Saccha Dennis, Cory O'Brien and Kristen Peace round out the core cast as stranded New Yorker Hannah, constable Oz Fudge and SPCA worker Bonnie.

All the actors play multiple roles, both Newfoundlanders and "Come From Aways," in the musical penned by Torontonians Irene Sankoff and David Hein and based on extensive interviews. Six alternates have been hired to sub in as needed: Kate Etienne, Cailin Stadnyk, Susan Dunstan, Amir Haidar, Jeff Madden and David Silvestri.

Christopher Ashley, who won a Tony Award for his direction of Come From Away, will again direct this production, which is set to open at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in January before moving to the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto in February.

Come From Away producer Michael Rubinoff says when he watches the Broadway musical he still thinks of the Sheridan College students who helped develop the show. The musical is up for seven Tony Awards this Sunday.

The Canadian Press

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