Tony Award Winning Musical 'Come From Away' Recounts Real 9/11 Story

MIAMI (CBSMiami)- South Floridians are in for a special treat next week when a Tony Award-winning musical comes to town.

The play "Come From Away" relives the true story of the day the world came to a small Canadian town on 9/11, takes the stage in South Florida for the first time.

The play tells the true story of the small town of Gander, which welcomed the world on the most tragic day for the United States of America.

On 9/11, Beverley Bass, the first female captain of America Airlines, was en route to Dallas from Paris with 156 passengers on board the 777-aircraft, when she got the order to land in Gander.

"When we landed in Gander at 10:15 the morning of September 11th, they came on and said you won't be getting off until tomorrow. We got off at 7:30am on Sept 12th," Bass said.

Thirty-eight planes were forced to land there that morning.

"They had never seen that many widebodies [planes] and there were cars and people everywhere. The population of Gander was 9,000 and we were nearly 7,000 passenger and crews, that invaded their tiny town in that time frame," said Bass.

The play is set to the music of the people of Gander.

"They brought everything they could to the airplane. Water bottles, Nutri-Grain Bars, they supplied diapers and formulas. It was incredible they filled over 2,000 prescriptions," Bass said. "When we got off [the] airplane, there was tables of food the people of Gander had cooked. They stayed up all night long and made enough food to feed the 7,000 people."

Bass had to stay close to a small motel, waiting for word they could leave. It wasn't until later, she found out how this small town embraced all 7,000 passengers known as, "The Come From Aways."

"We're called that because we weren't born in Newfoundland. If you're not born in Newfoundland, you are a 'Come From Away.' Hence, the name of the show," she said.

We got a sneak peek of Bass' song in the show, performed by Marika Aubrey, as Bass beamed while watching it.

She's seen the show 128 times and it never gets old.

"It just portrays the beautiful side of humanity, kindness, and generosity and all of the things those people did for us. It's really the way we should live our lives," said Bass.

"Come From Away" is on at the Adrienne Arsht Center June 18 to June 23.

For more information, visit the venue's website.