May 02, 2017

An enthusiastic crowd of staff, students, alumni and friends reacted with raucous applause at the news that Come From Away, the Broadway blockbuster musical that got its start at Sheridan, racked up a total of seven 2017 Tony Award nominations, including one for Best Musical. Other nominations include Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical (Jenn Colella), Best Book of a Musical (Irene Sankoff and David Hein), Best Original Score - Music and/or Lyrics Written for the Theatre (Irene Sankoff and David Hein), Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Howell Binkley), Best Direction of a Musical (Christopher Ashley) and Best Choreography (Kelly Devine).

The crowd gathered at Sheridan’s Oakville campus, which is home to the Canadian Music Theatre Project (CMTP), the incubator that first developed and produced Come From Away. They were connected by video link with an audience in Gander, Nfld., so that the two communities, each of whom have a connection to the show, could simultaneously tune in to the live broadcast of the Tony Award nominations to learn first-hand if the show would receive a Tony nod.

“With a producing credit on the show, Sheridan is thrilled to be nominated for a Tony Award in the category of Best Musical,” says Dr. Mary Preece, President and Vice Chancellor at Sheridan. “We believe we’re the first post-secondary institution in the history of the Tony Awards (and certainly the only Canadian one) to have a Tony Award nomination for best musical, to our name.”