It makes me sad that all the talent, creativity and hard work behind Swept Away, the new musical at the Longacre Theatre, wasn’t rewarded with the healthy run it deserves. It’s one of the best shows I’ve seen in this fall season that has offered the best shows of any fall season I can remember.
It’s no wonder we get such a steady stream of formulaic jukebox musicals, the latest of which is this fall’s A Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong’s hits sung with spirit by James Monroe Iglehart in an otherwise mediocre show. Originality is risky on Broadway.
Nothing is mediocre in director Michael Mayer’s Swept Away, a riveting 90-minute intermission-less story, perfectly scripted by John Logan. It’s adapted from The Avett Brothers 2004 album “Mignonette,” which drew its inspiration from the shipwreck of a British vessel of that name that sank in 1884. The performances are award-worthy and the music is the best of the season. It’s unfortunate that this show opened at a time when all of the 41 Broadway houses were full. Too much competition, I guess, and no big name TV or movie stars to lure the tourists.
Let’s start with the cast. John Gallagher, Jr. (second from left in photo), Stark Sands (second from right), Adrian Blake Enscoe (right) and Wayne Duvall are the leads, backed by a strong ensemble of singer/dancers. Choreographer David Neumann brings them together for lively numbers that, if we weren’t in a Broadway theatre, would have had us on our feet clapping and stomping our feet right along with them. At least in the first half of the show.
That brings us to the Avett Brothers’ music, a blend of folk, country and Americana, music I love. I listen to this kind of music for five hours on Sundays when I’m home — “Mountain Stage” from noon to 2 p.m. and “Common Threads” from 2 to 5 p.m. on WAER from Syracuse University. I love standard Broadway fare — I wouldn’t be doing what I do if I didn’t — but I also love my Sunday country/folk music and I rarely get to hear it live in NYC. The Swept Away band is fantastic under the direction of Will Van Dyke, with supervision, arrangements and orchestrations by Brian Usifer.
As far as theatricality goes, you would have to go far to match the drama of the whaling ship’s capsizing and the four survivors’ transition into a lifeboat. Neumann, scenic designer Rachel Hauck, lighting designer Kevin Adams and sound designer John Shivers work together for effects that are spectacular.
We’re introduced to the characters on the dock at New Bedford, MA, in 1888. They are both individuals and archetypes. Mate (Gallagher) was well educated but has become a wastrel and cynic. Captain (Duvall) has a wife and children whom he has rarely seen since he has spent his life at sea. This is to be the ship’s last voyage because kerosene and other products have replaced the need for whale oil. The 300-ton ship will then become scrap metal and Captain feels he might as well join it. Little Brother (Enscoe) is in his late teens and is a classic innocent in search of adventure. He loves his girlfriend and wants to marry her but escapes the farm to see the world first. Big Brother (Sands) is a deeply religious Christian content with his life of farm and church who comes to bring his brother home but ends up heading out to sea as the ship sails with him still onboard.
All is lighthearted before setting sail as the cast fills the stage to sing a couple rousing numbers conveying their excitement. “I’m a hard, hard worker everyday” and “Nothing’s going to change my mind” are fun and engaging. But after all are dramatically swept away and only the survivors are left in a lifeboat, desperation builds. After three weeks without a drop of water or bite of food and a scorching sun blazing down on them the conversation turns to ethical, moral and spiritual questions of what a person can do to survive. The climax is shocking in its speed. I left grateful for an afternoon of such compelling theatre and regretting that it was closing at the end of the month.
Swept Away began previews Nov. 14, opened Nov. 19 and its closing was announced for Dec. 15 until an unprecedented demand for tickets followed the closing announcement. It was extended until Dec. 29.
I don’t know what the future will be for Swept Away. I can’t imagine it going on a national tour. Not after its short run and with its dark subject matter. I do hope regional theatres will pick it up. The capsizing will have to be scaled back but the show did begin in regional theatres, Berkeley Repertory followed by Arena Stage, and showed enough promise that it was moved to Broadway. I would be happy to go see it again.
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