“Swept Away” at Arena Stage
(Photo: Julieta Cervantes)
Swept Away, the new seafaring musical scored by the Avett Brothers, begins previews on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre on October 29. The production, directed by Michael Mayer, opens November 19.
Swept Away is partly inspired by the Avett Brothers’ 2004 concept album Mignonette, which was itself inspired by the story of the 1884 shipwreck of that name. The production stars returning principal cast members from its runs at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Arena Stage: Tony Award winner John Gallagher Jr., Tony Award nominee Stark Sands, Adrian Blake Enscoe and Wayne Duvall.
Also returning from the show’s run at Arena Stage are ensemble members Hunter Brown, Matt DeAngelis, Cameron Johnson, Brandon Kalm, Michael J. Mainwaring, Orville Mendoza, Tyrone L. Robinson and John Sygar. New to the cast are Josh Breckenridge, Rico LeBron, John Michael Finley, Chase Peacock, Robert Pendilla and David Rowen.
Including Avett Brothers songs such as “No Hard Feelings,” “Murder in the City” and “Ain’t No Man,” Swept Away is a tale of shipwreck, salvation and brotherhood set on the high seas. It features a book by Tony Award winner John Logan (Red, Moulin Rouge! The Musical) and choreography by Tony Award nominee David Neumann (Hadestown).
The Broadway creative team includes music supervisor Brian Usifer, music arrangers/orchestrators Chris Miller and Brian Usifer, music director Will Van Dyke, Tony Award-winning set designer Rachel Hauck, Tony Award-winning costume designer Susan Hilferty, four-time Tony Award-winning lighting designer Kevin Adams and Tony Award-winning sound designer John Shivers.
“It’s not like anything you’ve seen before,” Logan told The Broadway Show during the musical’s run at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. “You may be provoked or challenged by it. It’s a serious piece of drama.” He continued, “The sea’s a vast, great metaphor, waiting to be uncovered. It can be beautiful and it can be terrifying from one moment to the other. And what we want to do with theater, I believe, is be beautiful and be terrifying.”
