#avettsailor

Swept Away is THE staggering, vibrant, bewitching new musical now playing at the Longacre Theater. With music and lyrics by the spectacular Avett Brothers, and book by the multidisciplinary writer John Logan it is a stunning tale of a whaling crew’s last adventure on the high seas. Their ship is being decommissioned.Swept Away opens with a man known as Mate (John Gallagher Jr.) in a hospital bed, dying of tuberculosis. He is surrounded by others like him, men dying alone, men with no family to cry for them—men who have only each other. In the hospital, they are mates, and there they relive their glorious pasts, telling their stories of battle, of sailing, of abandonment.But Mate is not alone. Three of his shipmates who have gone on before, Captain (Wayne Duvall), Big Brother (Stark Sands), and Little Brother (Adrian Blake Enscoe) are there to demand that Mate tell their story. The story of the four of them, one now dying and three already dead. “We should be remembered.” “ There is no peace until you speak the words.”And so Mate does. He tells an incredible unimaginable story. This cast of 16 all-male voices reaches to the heavens. They will sing and dance (rock and roll knee-slapping dancing) and fight their way on a doomed ship afloat on the high seas. This is their last journey out to sea as the enterprise and livelihood of whaling is ending. There are two novices aboard. Younger Brother, who arrived from the family farm tired of looking at the “ass end of a plow mule,” is ready for high sea adventures. His older brother has followed him and is demanding that he return home. Unfortunately, for Big Brother, the ship has set sail and so now he is on the adventure with his baby brother. This deep brotherhood of sailors and family members is the thread that lashes them to the mast and keeps them all going.Sands and Enscoe are marvelous as brothers who see the world differently but maintain a deep family love. This is Enscoe’s Broadway debut! And what a debut it is! John Gallagher Jr. is a Broadway treasure. He is stupendous as the bedraggled hard-hearted con artist who finds his way out of his own shipwrecked existence. Wayne Duvall’s Captain is the last of his kind. He is the man who took the journey of the sea over living a life on land with his family. Duvall plays it with the strength that a Captain must maintain and the loss for his choices that he must endure. He is wonderful. As is the entire cast. The crew are the musical chorus and the hands-on-deck men who make the ship run. They are all outstanding performers!The Avett Brothers hail from North Carolina and bring that southern beauty and depth to their music. Their songs are uproarious hand-clapping foot-stomping jams. They are thought-provoking and contemplating in their melody and lyrics encompassing the simple questions of every day and love and life. They create incredible depth and spectacular heart-lifting joy in their music. John Logan’s script matches their depth and joy with his tale of an odyssey of adventure worthy of the gods.Michael Mayer’s direction uses the space of the ship to its fullest. Taking us above the deck of the shop and below and David Neumann’s choreography is spectacular. He pushes this beautifully galvanized cast to such feats of dance and flight.I cannot say enough about scenic designer Rachel Hauck’s ship and ultimate shipwreck. Absolutely and totally mind-blowing. It is all, the stage and the staging enhanced by Kevin Adams hauntingly precision lighting.With the running at 90 minutes with no intermission Swept Away is a gift you give yourself this holiday season.Swept Away book by Tony Winner John Logan, direction by Tony Winner Michael Mayer and choreography by Tony Winner David Neumann .With: John Gallagher Jr., Stark Sands, Wayne Duvall, and making his Broadway debut Adrian Blake EnscoeEnsemble: Josh Breckenridge, Hunter Brown, Matt DeAngelis, John Michael Finley, Cameron Johnson, Brandon Kalm, Rico LeBron, Michael J. Mainwaring, Orville Mendoza, Chase Peacock, Robert Pendilla, Tyrone L. Robinson, David Rowen and John Sygar.Creative Team includes Tony Award-winning set designer Rachel Hauck, Tony Award-winning costume designer Susan Hilferty, four-time Tony Award-winning lighting designer Kevin Adams, Tony Award-winning sound designer John Shivers, music arranger & orchestrator Chris Miller, music arranger & orchestrator/music supervisor Brian Usifer, music director Will Van Dyke.Longacre Theater 220 West 48th 10036Tickets HERERunning Time: 90 Minutes. No IntermissionReaders may also enjoy Lempicka at the Longacre Theatre, Macbeth at the Longacre Theater, and Witness. Read the full article