By turns rousing, distressing, moving, and uplifting, unique new musical Swept Away celebrates the stirring bluegrass music of prolific folk rock group The Avett Brothers.
Based on The Avett Brothers’ 2004 album Mignonette, which was in turn was named after an English whaler boat that sank in the 1880s, Swept Away tells its own original story of unimaginable adversity and extraordinary sacrifice.
With a tight focus upon only four characters, the 90-minute one-act musical opens on a dying sailor, known only as Mate, in a hospital bed. The ghosts of three others implore Mate to tell their story and the action dissolves back to the launch of the ship and the arrival of Younger Brother. Big Brother attempts to dissuade Little Brother from leaving their family farm for adventure but soon both are part of the crew as the boat leaves harbour.
With a full cast of 16, the first half of Swept Away is joyously lively. The all male cast (a neat complement to the current all-female cast of Suffs) brings the music to glorious life, with rich harmonies at an absolute premium. Working under music supervisor Brian Usifer, the off stage band of eight musicians, including conductor Will Van Dyke, plays with spirited passion and skill. The overall quality of the music is sure to please The Avett Brothers’ legion fans as well as winning the band even more followers.
The economical book by John Logan neatly incorporates some 14 musical numbers, including one original song for the musical, “Lord Lay Your Hand On My Shoulder,” in which big brother attempts to generate an atmosphere of prayer. As the men react in counterpoint to this solemnity, the number evolves into a terrific combined sequence, “Ain’t No Man/Lord Lay Your Hand.”
Director Michael Mayer works briskly to position the four lead characters in an emotional context so that the audience readily forms a strong attachment to them before moving into the more dramatic second half of the musical. Choreographer David Neumann works the full company in eye-catching movement, staying clear of theatrical dance to keep the musical grounded in a clear sense of realism.
Scenic designer Rachel Hauck has crafted a highly impressive set which begins as a spacious wooden ship deck with rigging soaring up overhead. Susan Hilferty’s costumes add to the highly authentic feel.
In the musical’s most gripping sequence, the ship suddenly encounters a violet storm. Neumann’s choreography and Kevin Adams’ lighting contribute to the highly unsettling action. In an extraordinary coup du theatre, the whole ship dramatically levers up, revealing a lifeboat with four survivors below.
As the audience recovers from this intense sequence, Mayer gets to work on the far more challenging second half of the musical. Captain, Mate, Big Brother, and Little Brother are first seen six days into their ordeal without food, water, and shelter, an ordeal that goes on to stretch for some 16 days. The supreme talents and focus of the four actors bring this sequence to harrowing and deeply moving life, keeping the audience spellbound with the searing drama.
As the weathered and world weary Mate, John Gallagher, Jr. compellingly carries the emotional core of the musical, working with an intensity that appears completely natural but must actually be quite exhausting.
Successfully forging a deep fraternal connection, Stark Sands (Big Brother) and Adrian Blake Enscoe (Little Brother) convey a world of life beyond their time on the ship. Sands sings with beautiful tenderness and Enscoe endears himself with passionate naïveté.
Wayne Duvall gives strong support in the generally underwritten role of the gruff Captain.
Some audiences may find the events of Swept Away to be unsettling. Seen as a message of human survival and hope, it is an uplifting work, produced and performed at the highest level of quality.
Swept Away plays at Longacre Theatre, New York. For tickets, click here.
Photos: Julieta Cervantes
Watch the official music video for “A Gift for Melody Anne” featuring the cast of Swept Away: