Planes, Pants, and Professionals: The True Story Behind COME FROM AWAY'S Viral Wardrobe Emergency

Eight times a week, the hit Broadway musical Come From Away tells a true story of teamwork and hospitality in the face of difficult circumstances.

Earlier this month, a similar drama played out on a much smaller scale behind the scenes of the musical, after an unsuspecting theatregoer found himself in the throes of a wardrobe malfunction of his own just before the curtain went up on the May 6 performance.

In a meme that has been making its way through theatrical social media communities, the unnamed audience member on a four-day trip to New York describes finding himself backstage at the Tony-winning musical after a mishap involving an armrest and his only pair of pants for the trip:

Since the true tale of Broadway teamwork has gone viral within the past few weeks, we reached out to the mystery costumer herself to get the scoop on this small but popular act of quick thinking and kindness that would have made the folks of Gander proud.

Melissa Joy Crawford is the wardrobe supervisor for Come From Away and a twenty year veteran of Broadway who has worked on shows like Paramour, Harvey, and Motown the Musical. She was in the costume shop that night and received the distressed audience member.

"Our house manager, Dexter Luke, came down to get some safety pins and I said why not just bring him down. We have retired pants here and the repair wouldn't take long. He came down and I didn't have anything his size."

With no more than a few minutes until curtain, Melissa made a quick decision to save the evening.

"I just turned to him and said 'Drop your pants' and he said, 'Uh, okay'" she explained with a laugh, "So he did and I handed them off to our stitcher, Estella Marie Simmons, she stitched them up, gave them back to me, I handed them back to him, and said have a good show!"

Though the story has captured the imaginations of theatre fans on social media, Melissa says moments like this are commonplace in her line of work.

"It's the first time it's ever become a thing for the media. But it's what we do, an actor rips his pants before curtain, and we're like drop 'em and that's what we do. And what you should do as a human." adding, "I'm glad that it's touched people."

Despite her new found social media popularity, Melissa insists that acts of kindness and charity are very much the norm in Broadway circles.

"I'm so glad that people enjoyed our story, but there are so many people on Broadway who are doing great things." she explained.

"There's Betsy Waddell who collected shoes at SpongeBob for Soles for Souls and Kimberly Mark over at Hamilton who does raffles for Freedom Farm, an animal sanctuary. You get to know people in this business and so many of them are doing cool stuff."

In just a few short weeks, this story of quick thinking and teamwork by some of the theatre's most unsung heroes has captured the imaginations of hundreds of theatre fans on social media.

This true tale of polished professionals and one unfortunate pair of pants serves as patented proof that the collaboration of theatre continues long after the finished product has made it to the stage, and in certain situations, with only minutes to spare.