When a violent storm sinks their whaling ship off the coast of New Bedford, Mass., the four survivors face a reckoning: how far will they go to stay alive? And can they live with the consequences? With music and lyrics from The Avett Brothers (“America’s Biggest Roots Band,” Rolling Stone), whose 2004 “Mignonette” was inspired by an 1884 shipwreck and the struggle of four men to survive, SWEPT AWAY is an electrifying, soul-stirring new musical exploring how facing tragedy can open the door to forgiveness… if only we’ll let it.
The show makes highminded use of The Avett Brothers’s album Mignonette – the name of that wrecked British yacht – much as Girl From the North Country wove early Bob Dylan into bleak narrative (albeit with a more complex environment and fully-realized characters). Both come out of the haut-Broadway tradition of Menotti operas and Marc Blitzstein, often as not seen as caviar to the general. The new work is obviously a labor of love executed with exemplary taste but, in the end, lacking in qualities by which an audience is likely to be swept away.
As enthralling as it is disquieting, Swept Away, opening tonight on Broadway, is a taut and captivating new folk musical featuring the gorgeous songs of the roots-rock group The Avett Brothers and an impeccable cast headed by John Gallagher Jr. and Stark Sands.
| 2020 | Regional (US) |
Berkeley Rep World Premiere Regional (US) |
| 2024 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design of a Pl | Kevin Adams |
| 2025 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Scenic Design of a Musi | Rachel Hauck |
| 2025 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Scenic Design of a Musi | Rachel Hauck |
| 2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design | Kevin Adams |
| 2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Scenic Design | Rachel Hauck |
| 2025 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Sound Design | John Shivers |
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