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.
In turning the Avett Brothers’ take on this gruesome true story into a musical, Logan and director Michael Mayer were facing a strangely paradoxical task. On the one hand, the events are there, the songs are there, and the central characters and situations are just waiting to be brought to three-dimensional life. Conversely, that very straightforwardness is a potential trap. A piece of theater assembled from preexisting songs, or charting a known historical event, can wind up feeling by-the-numbers: The things we expect to happen happen, and along the way folks sing about them (or, more likely, they sing about slightly generalized circumstances adjacent to the specific ones onstage). Despite its creative team’s efforts to lace a capital-T Theme through the work, Swept Away often falls prey to this roteness. Logan, with the support of Scott and Seth Avett and their bandmate Bob Crawford, has chosen “salvation and redemption” as the play’s big idea, but its deployment is telly not showy — we hear a lot about it, but our pulses never really rise with the stakes.
There’s an undeniable energy in firsts and lasts. Swept Away tells the story of the final voyage of a whaling ship bound for the scrapyard, and the maiden voyage of a young crewman setting sail for the first time. It also marks the folk rock band The Avett Brothers' Broadway debut — and the journey is well worth taking.
| 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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