[5] The show was conceived by Michael Rubinoff, a Toronto lawyer, theatre producer, and Associate Dean of Visual and Performing Arts at Sheridan College in Oakville.

[6] After approaching various writing teams about the project, Rubinoff attracted Irene Sankoff and David Hein,[6] whose work he knew from their 2009 musical My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding, which was a hit at the Toronto Fringe Festival and later picked up by Mirvish Productions.

The workshop was sufficiently successful that Rubinoff invited Sankoff and Hein to finish writing it for a full production at Sheridan in 2013, as part of the college's regular theatrical season.

[7][8] On the morning of September 11, 2001, the townsfolk of Gander (including Claude the mayor, Oz the police constable, Beulah the teacher, Bonnie the SPCA worker, and others) describe life in Newfoundland and how they learn of the terrorist attacks taking place in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania ("Welcome to the Rock").

The Gander townspeople spring to action and prepare to house, feed, clothe, and comfort the nearly 7,000 passengers, along with 19 animals in cargo ("Blankets and Bedding").

Meanwhile, the pilots, flight attendants, and passengers are initially forbidden from leaving the planes, forcing them to contend with confusing and conflicting information about what has happened and why they were suddenly grounded ("28 Hours / Wherever We Are").

Once allowed off the planes and transferred to nearby emergency shelters ("Darkness and Trees"), the passengers and crew watch replays of the attacks on the news and learn the true reason why they were grounded ("Lead Us Out of the Night").

The frightened and lonely passengers desperately try to contact their families and pray for their loved ones while the townsfolk work through the night to help them in any and every way they can ("Phoning Home / Costume Party").

To alleviate rising fear and mounting tensions ("On The Edge"), the townspeople invite the passengers to be initiated as honorary Newfoundlanders at the local bar ("Heave Away / Screech In").

While one pair of passengers develops a romance despite the terrible circumstances ("The Dover Fault/Stop the World"), another couple's long-term relationship falls apart under the stress of the event.

The passengers and airline staff who return to the United States are faced with the horror of the attacks' aftermath — including Hannah, who learns that her firefighter son died during the rescue efforts ("Something's Missing").

Ten years later, the crew and passengers of the once stranded planes — the "come from aways" — reunite in Gander, this time by choice, to celebrate the lifelong friendships and strong connections they formed in spite of the terrorist attacks ("Finale"), as Claude the mayor professes, "Tonight we honor what was lost, but we also commemorate what we found."

Come from Away broke all box office records at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, including highest grossing show and largest single ticket sales day.

[31] As a result of strong demand, Mirivsh Productions announced they would be adding an additional four box seats and standing room tickets for the remainder of the show's run.

Following the early closure of Dear Evan Hansen, the musical again transferred back to the Royal Alexandra Theatre, where it resumed performances on December 13, 2019.

[51] The production, which ran between July 7 and September 3, 2023, starred original Broadway cast members Petrina Bromley as Beverley and others and Astrid van Wieren as Diane and others.

A production in Argentina by The Stage Company was announced at the Teatro Maipo in Buenos Aires for April 2020 onwards, with Carla Calabrese as director and cast member.

[72][73] Misha Berson, writing for the Seattle Times, praised Christopher Ashley's fluid staging, calling the show a "meaningful balm to the benumbed psyche."

Berson closed the review noting how the show "honors our capacity for humble goodness and mutual empathy in the shadow of faith-shattering evil.

"[76] Peter Marks, in his review in The Washington Post, noted that the musical "stirs powerful memories of 9/11 ... if the book's mechanics unfold with too much sugar, the score has an infectious, gritty vitality: Especially good is a number set in a Gander pub, choreographed by Kelly Devine, during which a risibly nutty local initiation rite is performed, involving the embrace of a recently caught codfish.

"[79] Liz Braun of the Toronto Sun gave the show a perfect 5-star review, writing "Blame Canada: a grim day in American history has been transformed into a joyous and emotional musical about the indomitable human spirit.

"[81] Ben Brantley, chief theatre critic for The New York Times, wrote "Try, if you must, to resist the gale of good will that blows out of 'Come From Away,' the big bearhug of a musical", though it "starts off in a grating key of deep earnestness" and there are "moments that feel a little too heartwarming".

Joe Dziemianowicz of the New York Daily News called the show "big-hearted and crowd-pleasing" and "a singing reminder that when things are at their worst, people can be at their best.

"[85] Johnny Oleksinski with the New York Post wrote that "Every New Yorker must see this show", referring to the musical as "Broadway's biggest and best surprise of the season.

"[89] Robert Kahn with NBC called the piece "a dignified, often funny new musical" which "find[s] a spiritual angle to a horrific story, depicting the goodness in humanity while still allowing us room for the feelings of loneliness and fear that will always be connected to that time.

"[91] In a more negative review, Jesse Green of New York Magazine called it "aggressively nice", and wrote that "New Yorkers may be permitted a bit of side-eye about a work that borrows our local tragedy as background for 100 minutes of Canadian civic boosterism."

[108] In November 2017, it was announced that The Mark Gordon Company would produce a feature film adaptation of the musical, with Sankoff and Hein writing the screenplay and Christopher Ashley as director.