Musical ‘Swept Away’ to close on Broadway soon

The well-reviewed Avett Brothers musical “Swept Away” will end its Broadway run just a month after it officially opened, producers announced.

The final performance of the shipwreck survival and redemption saga will be Sunday, producers of the show said in a news release. By the time it closes, the show will have played 32 regular performances and 20 previews at the Longacre Theatre in Times Square, though the production itself was years in the making.

It began preview performances Oct. 29 ahead of a star-filled opening night Nov. 19 following successful runs in Berkeley and Washington, D.C. But ticket sales did not live up to expectations.

The folk-rock band from Concord, whose songs from their deep catalog were used for the show, posted a statement on Instagram about the closing: “It has been an honor and a pleasure beyond description to have been a part of this singular triumph of meaningful storytelling.

“...From the depths of our hearts, we offer our sincerest gratitude to everyone involved,” the band stated.

The show’s producers, including Madison Wells Live along with Charlotte native Matthew Masten and his producing partner Sean Hudock, echoed that sentiment.

“We are deeply proud of this beautiful production and the years of work that it took to get to Broadway,” the producers said. “We will forever be indebted to our fantastic creative team, our loyal actors and all of our co-producers and in turn their investors, for believing in this production and taking a risk on new work.”

The show itself was a decade-in-the-making labor of love.

Masten was inspired by one of the Avetts’ early albums called “Mignonette,” which itself was inspired by the harrowing true story of the Mignonette yacht’s 1884 shipwreck off the coast of Africa. The musical set the show on a 19th century whaling ship off the New England coast, and how the four shipwreck survivors grappled with their fate.

All four leads have been with the production from the start: Wayne Duvall, as the veteran Captain; John Gallagher Jr. as his earthy Mate; Stark Sands as a protective Big Brother; and Adrian Blake Enscoe as the Little Brother seeking adventure.

“Swept Away” featured a book by Tony winner John Logan and was directed by Tony winner Michael Mayer. Gallagher also has a Tony award to his name, and Sands has been nominated twice for Broadway’s highest honor.

After years of development, “Swept Away” held its world premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California in 2022, having survived a number of COVID-related delays. Next, it moved to Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., last year for where it was met with solid reviews during its sold-out run.

The 90-minute, one-act show without an intermission challenged audiences with its intense material of life-or-death stakes, the producers previously told The Charlotte Observer. They were eager to bring to Broadway something audiences had not seen before in a musical.

Ahead of its transfer to Broadway, Gallagher, a theater vet and long-time Avett Brothers fan, put it this way to the Observer: “If people can kind of just stay game with us and jump on board, I don’t think they’ll regret it. It’s one of those nights at the theater where it’s a bit of a leap of faith for the audience.

“It’s certainly been a leap of faith for us. But I’m excited to get a chance to do that eight times a week.”

Opening night for “Swept Away” saw a number of big names in the audience, including Anna Wintour, Brooke Shields and Lea Michele.

During the curtain call, The Avett Brothers made a surprise appearance, dramatically rising up from below the stage on a rowboat. They then launched into a reprise of the title number along with the cast, much to the crowd’s delight.

Tribune News Service