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.
As with Tammy Faye, another new musical this season which today announced its closing, Swept Away a musical cursed by the finality of the Broadway premiere. A few more workshops to iron out a problematic book and it really could work; its elements brought together under a firmer directorial hand. The Avett Brothers’ music, with their specific sound and sense of down-home longing, seem ideal for a theatrical adaptation, but it’s a shame it’s left at sea by a book with no clear navigation, flailing its arms for rescue.
In thinking about “Swept Away” afterwards, and casually researching the story, I landed on a fascinating tidbit: The 17-year-old cabin boy who was murdered aboard the Mignonette was named Richard Parker, which is the name that Yann Martel gave to the shipwrecked tiger in “The Life of Pi.” This led me to realize that Martel’s novel, ,turned into a Broadway musical of its own, was one of the many works of literature, theater, movies and music that “Swept Away” evoked for me in one way or another. Among these were Moby Dick, Traffic’s John Barleycorn is Dead, Hitchcock’s Lifeboat, Sting’s The Last Ship, Dylan’s Girl from the North Country. These inadvertent evocations didn’t make me view “Swept Away” as derivative. Rather, it left me aware of the qualities that were in insufficient supply – tension and details and meaning.
2020 | Regional (US) |
Berkeley Rep World Premiere Regional (US) |
2024 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
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