The show can't go on in Gander, as illness cancels Come From Away performances 3 nights running

It's the hottest ticket in town with 37 sold-out shows this summer, but an illness sweeping through the Come From Away cast has disrupted audience plans to see the Tony-award winning musical this week.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night's performances in Gander, N.L. — where the world-famous play is set — have been cancelled, which was the last thing producer Michael Rubinoff said they wanted to do.

"First and foremost, we've got to prioritize the health of our cast and our crew. And there's been some sickness in the cast, which has been unfortunate, [and] that just hasn't allowed us to proceed with the show that we want to share with everybody," Rubinoff told CBC Thursday.

"So we're quite, quite devastated about it for sure. But again, you know, making the best decisions to keep everybody healthy and ready to get back on that stage."

The cancellations have led to several hundred ticket holders who didn't get to see the performances.

Rubinoff said they're working on a plan to accommodate those people by adding more shows.

"As soon as we have that confirmation and information on that, we'll certainly push that out to those that have been affected and to the public," he said.

There are also people who've traveled to the area to see Come From Away who were affected by the cancellations, and Rubinoff is trying to accommodate them over the weekend through tickets reserved for their creative teams.

"We're trying to mitigate as much as we can, because we certainly want people to see and celebrate this show."

Rubinoff said they are aware of the importance of performing Come From Away in Gander, the town that started it all. 

"We all feel the emotion of not being able to perform when the goal is always to get on that stage. But I think we also have to balance that with the recognition that we always want to make sure we do it safely."

Rubinoff declined to say much about the nature of the illnesses affecting the cast, citing performers' privacy. 

While the show has understudies, he said they still weren't able to perform. He explained they have four ensemble members who are also understudies, which he said is unique to this production. In the original production, they had understudies on standby, off stage.

"With this production coming to Gander, we wanted to make sure that everybody participated in the production night after night," he said.