The true story behind the acclaimed musical Come From Away will restore your faith in humanity.

As the world's attention was glued to New York City on September 11, 2001, 38 passenger planes were diverted to the small town of Gander on the Canadian island of Newfoundland. 

The United States' airspace was closed. No planes could land in the country, grounding flights around the world and diverting those already in the air.

The tiny Canadian town of Gander suddenly found itself host to 6600 stranded passengers, 66 per cent of the local population. 

Over the following days, the people of Gander volunteered to house, feed, and entertain the travellers, many of whom were stuck for days. 

Planes on the tarmac in Gander on September 12, 2001. Image: Supplied.

The stories of these people, the hospitality and human kindness of Gander is the basis of the critically acclaimed musical Come From Away, which lands in Sydney in June. 

Watch: Come From Away arrives in Sydney soon. Post continues below video.

Come From Away is not a 9/11 story, but a story of 9/12-9/16.

Speaking to Mamamia ahead of the Sydney premiere, show creators David Hein and Irene Sankoff said as Canadians, who lived in New York City in 2001, the story of the Newfoundlanders and their guests struck multiple cords.

"At one point [on September 11] somebody knocked on the door and said, 'Hey, you should really come out. Everyone's hanging out in the main area' - we were in a student residence at the time with students from around the world," Irene recalled of the day.

"That evening someone pulled a piano out and the wine started flowing, and we all started telling stories and singing and playing games, just taking care of each other. When we found out what happened in Newfoundland, we thought 'oh my goodness, this isn’t too different from what we experienced.'"

David agreed their experience in New York made the story particularly resonant.

"The fact that we were in an international community that was taking care of each other was very similar to the story, so it resonated. And it resonated because of the kindness we saw in the streets of New York," he said.

David and Irene. Image: Supplied.

It wasn't until 2011 that the husband and wife team visited Gander on the 10th anniversary of that week of unrivalled hospitality.

When they got there, they experienced it too. Food was made, keys to homes were handed over, so they didn't need to stay in a hotel, and every story they heard was better than the last.

The musical features the real stories of real people, as told to David and Irene during their own trip to Gander. 

Like the story of American Airlines pilot Beverley Bass, the first female captain of a commercial plane at American Airlines, the first captain of an all-female crew in the history of commercial jet aviation, whose plane from Paris to Texas was diverted to Gander.

"The terminal building was literally lined with tables on every wall, and every table had so much food on it you could not even imagine. But we got off the plane in the morning, and [I realised] that they must have been up all night preparing food. It was my first clue that we were not in a normal place," Beverley told Mamamia of her experience.

Image: Supplied.

There's also an Australian link, not that the duo knew it at the time.

"One of the lines in the show that was relayed to us by one of the characters was said by an Australian flight attendant," Irena said. "We never expected the show to go to Australia, and even that far away there are people who are like, 'oh yeah, we were there.'"

"The truth is we wanted to fit in every story. Every story we heard was better than the last and we wanted to fit them all in. We did have to do some amalgamation of characters and stories," David explained of how he and Irene were able to include so many people's incredible experiences.

In doing so, they effectively gave up on the show ever making a major debut anywhere and assumed it would be a musical performed mostly in high schools, certainly not on Broadway and around the world, Irene said.

"Strangely, early on we sort of gave up on it making any large debut anywhere because we were like, 'what's more important is that we get it right and the people of Newfoundland are proud.'"

Turns out, they were able to make the people of Gander proud and create one of the biggest shows in the world.

Image: Supplied.

David and Irene said they were surprised and touched by how audiences around the world, especially in the United States and on Broadway in New York, embraced the show, which they were careful to ensure wasn't traumatising.

It has been incredible to "see the 9/11 community embrace it as well," David said.

"[It has been] a show that has really helped them heal and remind people that on that day there was still good in the world and the show can be a testament to the people that were lost."

The show is all about human goodness, even in the darkest of times.

"There's a lot of laughter in the show. There are a lot of tears, but you’ll be surprised that a lot of the tears are happy," he said.

“We're so dulled to the horrible things in life, but we also don’t see enough really, truly good things. It makes people tear up."

Image: Supplied.

One of Irene's favourite moments was returning to Gander, where the show was performed to raise money for the town's food banks. At the end, 2500 people who had lived the story they'd just watched stood up and cheered.

"That was probably the best moment, seeing people who actually were the ones making sandwiches and putting signs on payphones that said 'out of order', just seeing the people who had actually done the things we'd heard."

That end-of-show joy is not limited just to the people close to the story, either.

"When you look at the audiences afterwards, there’s this incredible community.

"It is different now, but for so long people would turn to each other and hug strangers… The sense of 'we all have the opportunity to be in this together'. It reminds you that our hearts can be together and we can work together, and you turn to the person next to you and you’re more connected because of the story about strangers connecting."

It couldn't be a more perfect story for right now.

Come From Away will commence performances at Sydney's Capitol Theatre from June 3. You can find more information and tickets here.

Feature image: Supplied.