The Avett Brothers musical sees stars, surprises, strong reviews on Broadway opening night
The Avett Brothers may be Broadway babies, but they got treated like Broadway royalty when their decade-in-the-making musical “Swept Away” officially opened Tuesday night in the heart of Times Square.
The show deploys music from across the Concord folk-rock band’s catalog to tell the story of a 19th century shipwreck and its harrowing aftermath. “Swept Away” focuses on the terrible choice facing the four survivors adrift without food or water, how they handle the consequences of a desperate decision and whether redemption is possible under such circumstances.
The musical began preview performances on Broadway Oct. 29 at the Longacre Theatre following well-received regional productions in Berkeley, California, and Washington, D.C.
Tuesday night was a star-studded affair, with bold-type names like fashionista Anna Wintour, music impresario Clive Davis and actors Alexander Skarsgård, Brooke Shields, Lea Michele, Billy Porter, Lena Headey from “Game of Thrones” and Amanda Seyfried, among those in attendance.
Look a little closer and you’d see other familiar faces, like character actor Stephen Root. Or Richard Schiff, who played Toby Ziegler on ”The West Wing,” wearing a knit hat in the mezzanine.
Celebs also mingled with other invited guests at the after-party in a swanky New York event space called Cipriani 25 Broadway.
‘Swept Away’ producer a Charlotte native
At the show’s riveting end, after the bows for the ensemble and lead actors Wayne Duvall (“Captain”), Adrian Blake Enscoe, (“Little Brother”), John Gallagher Jr. (“Mate”) and Stark Sands (“Big Brother”), director Michael Mayer took to the stage. He praised a number of people on the creative team, a Broadway tradition, including book writer John Logan, scenic designer Rachel Hauck and the lead producers, including Matthew Masten and Sean Hudock.
Masten is a Myers Park grad and Charlotte native. And he first had the idea that The Avett Brothers’ 2004 album “Mignonette,” itself inspired by a real-life notorious shipwreck and its aftermath, could form the basis for a nontraditional musical.
Masten and Hudock, a longtime friend and his producing partner, shepherded the production through the years. “This was their brainchild and their baby from the beginning,” Mayer said.
Then he impishly said he felt like was forgetting someone. Right on cue, from below center stage, rose a platform with Seth Avett, Scott Avett and Bob Crawford — The Avett Brothers themselves, making a surprise appearance for an encore of the title song with the cast.
So what did critics think of ‘Swept Away’?
The musical got a big boost of support from The New York Times. While not the singular make-or-break force it was in years past, it remains a prominent voice on Broadway.
The paper designated the show a “critic’s pick,” praising its direction, stagecraft of the shipwreck and performances, especially Gallagher’s. “Given the chance to create a huge and complicated character, (he) grabs it hungrily ... It’s the kind of performance that great musicals require and that can make merely good ones riveting.”
The paper also took note of its “visual panache” and “masculine eye candy” with the many sailors at the front end of the roughly 90-minute, one-act show, while describing “Swept Away” as “among the darkest, most unsparing musicals ever to anchor itself on Broadway.”
Entertainment Weekly called “Swept Away” riveting, and gave it a “Grade A,” while Deadline pegged it as “taut and captivating.”
“Swept Away” is “refreshingly modest in scale but suffused with an ambitious desire to expand the possibilities of the form,” the Wall Street Journal’s review stated. “Whether audiences will be ready to embrace its bleak, ultimately tragic spirit... will be an interesting test of what an increasingly brand-driven Broadway can accommodate.”
Not all critics were pleased. Variety praised the acting, music and set design, but felt the story was lacking. And the Washington Post questioned the pairing of the Avetts’ music to a grisly survival tale.
Well before Broadway became a realistic destination, Masten, Hudock and Scott Avett spoke to The Charlotte Observer early last year about how “Swept Away” came together. The producers mentioned how much faith they had in the material, and their determination to pair the Avett’s brand of music with a story that could engage and challenge audiences.
Avett remained proud of the band’s first musical, saying, “All you can do is make your best stuff and live your life.” On Tuesday night, on center stage in a Broadway theater, he was doing just that.
‘Swept Away’
Where: Longacre Theatre, 220 W. 48th St., New York City
Tickets: Prices start at $54
More info: sweptawaymusical.com
More arts coverage
Want to see more stories like this? Sign up here for our free, award-winning “Inside Charlotte Arts” newsletter: charlotteobserver.com/newsletters. You can join our Facebook group, “Inside Charlotte Arts,” by going here: facebook.com/groups/insidecharlottearts. And for all of our Fall Arts Guide stories in one place online, go to charlotteobserver.com/topics/charlotte-fall-arts-guide
This story was originally published November 21, 2024 at 12:06 PM with the headline "The Avett Brothers musical sees stars, surprises, strong reviews on Broadway opening night."
