Goes without saying that the music is instrumental to Come From Away, the smash-hit production that is captivating Canberrans.
The live band in Come From Away is on the stage at all times, not in the pit, and the music is almost a character in itself, the stirring sounds of Celtic instruments adding to the emotion of the Broadway hit and reflecting the Irish migration to Newfoundland, scene of the show.
Musical director Michael Tyack has been with the Australian production since 2021, even learning the accordion over a couple of months, after being approached to take on the job when his predecessor Luke Hunter moved on to Moulin Rouge.
"He rang me to see if I'd be interested in putting my name up for possibly doing it and I went, 'Oh yes' because I'd listened to the show. I'd never seen it but I'd listened to the album and thought this music is just fantastic story-telling, just the way that it weaves in and out of the dialogue. That's quite unusual," Mr Tyack said.
"In most shows, the songs are not separate, they're well-integrated, but the way this is so tightly underscored and exquisitely put together, the detail of it. So I said, 'I would love to'."
The story of a Canadian community that helps thousands of plane passengers stranded after the American air space is shut down in the days after the 9/11 terrorism attacks, Come from Away has attracted a roster of Australian musicians, but three have been with it from the start, Xani Colac on guitar, Tim Hartwig on guitar and Matthew Horsley who plays 18 instruments in the show comprising 15 kinds of tin whistles, two Irish flutes and the uilleann pipes.
By the time the Canberra season of Come From Away, the final one in Australia, ends on July 9, Mr Horsley will have played in more than 800 performances.
The 36-year-old Melbourne academic, who marks assignments on the road, teaches enthnomusicology, how music relates to cultures, which fits perfectly with the show.
"Exactly," he said. "I started studying that because I wanted to go deeper into the rich world of Irish music."
Mr Tyack said performing in the show was initially exhausting, as they focused on hitting the mark over 100 minutes.
"You can't really let your concentration up for a second or something will go a little bit amiss," he said.
"That's a little different to a lot of other shows as well. You usually get a little time to just think but now I'm pretty match fit with it."
Mr Tyack said he was going to miss the show when it ended.
"I don't know if there will be tears but it has been a very special experience," he said.
- Come from Away is at the Canberra Theatre Centre until July 9.
