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 good news is that Mayer is in top form with his latest Broadway entry. The new musical “Swept Away” opened Tuesday at the Longacre Theatre, and it helps immeasurably that this divisive director is working with great material here. In its first half, the musical recalls the grandeur of Benjamin Britten’s opera “Billy Budd.” Then Rachel Hauck’s set capsizes – the ship really flips over! – and the musical turns into an intimate chamber piece with its four survivors starving and slowly spinning around in the middle of the sea.
Despite all this effort, Swept Away hasn’t found a rationale for telling its nightmarish story. We don’t have enough sense of these individuals to care about their fate, and we only get glancing references to larger moral questions that might implicate us, or make us consider how we might respond in such extreme circumstances. The show has the power to shake us up, but then it merely tosses us overboard and sets us a adrift, floating on troubled seas without a clear destination.
| 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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