The musical Swept Away, set to songs by The Avett Brothers, received rave reviews when it premiered at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in early 2022. Now showing at Arena Stage in D.C., it’s garnering the same kind of attention.
And with a cast and crew behind the production that have collectively won nine Tony Awards, there’s hope the musical will head to Broadway.
From a book to an album to the stage
In the early 2000s, Scott Avett’s dad recommended he read Neil Hanson’s The Custom of the Sea, a true story about a shipwreck off the coast of Africa in 1884. Avett, who grew up in Concord, N.C., says his dad “loves non-fiction survival stories and so this was one of those those books.”
Hanson recounts the horrific experiences of four men adrift in a dinghy for 19 days in the burning sun in the middle of the ocean on the verge of starvation. In life or death situations, the “custom of the sea” permitted sacrificing one to save the rest.
As Hanson explains, Captain Tom Dudley made the decision to kill the weakest among them. When they were finally rescued, he told the truth and then stood trial for murder. Dudley’s “misfortune was that the British government were determined to outlaw the custom of the sea and his honesty gave them their chance, and they bent and even broke the law to do so,” says Hanson in an email.
Scott Avett says he was moved by the captain’s honesty, even though it meant confessing to a heinous act, “Because at the end…although the truth was the right thing, it was going to be a cause of suffering.”
More than a decade after The Avett Brothers’ 2004 album Mignonette was released, they got a call proposing to turn it into a musical. “It made perfect sense because I visualize these things as whole stories,” Avett says.
There are some key differences between the story of the Mignonette and the musical. Among other things, the whaling ship sinks off the coast of New Bedford, Mass. The character who first proposes killing an ailing crew member is called simply the “Mate.”
Unlike Captain Dudley, the Mate doesn’t believe in God and admits he’s lead a life of sin. He sings The Avett Brothers’ song “Satan Pulls The Strings.” By contrast, the character Big Brother is deeply religious and sings the only song the Avetts wrote specifically for the show, “Lord Lay Your Hand On My Shoulder.”
‘Swept Away’ built from pieces of The Avett Brothers’ overall catalogue
John Logan, whose credits include the movies Skyfall and Gladiator and winning a Tony Award for Red, was brought in to craft the story out of The Avett Brothers’ songs. He was thrilled to tackle big themes like redemption and forgiveness, and says: “I hope Swept Away says to the audience, ‘What would you do if you were one of these four men in this lifeboat after 21 days?’”
Logan knew some of The Avett Brothers’ music but says he now pored over their entire catalogue.
“I was just struck by the poetry of their lyrics, by the intensity of the music, and by the way they could explore different characters through songs and that’s what musicals do,” he recounts. “I went to them and I said, ‘Look, can you give me permission to use any of your songs? And if you don’t like how I’m using them, we’ll discuss it. And they said, ‘Great.’”
Actor and singer Adrian Blake Enscoe plays Little Brother in Swept Away. He’s also in the indie-folk-pop-americana group Bandits On The Run. He says The Avett Brothers’ catalogue is “incredible for this tale of morality and mortality, wrestling with darkness and light and faith and what is my meaning.”
When Scott Avett first saw the production on stage, “I thought, ‘These guys can sing way better than me,’” he laughs. “They have more control than I’ll ever have and I think it’s beautiful.”
‘Nothing that is human is alien to me’
In Swept Away, the Mate is haunted by his sins. Actor and singer Stark Sands, who plays Big Brother, believes the musical’s themes of reckoning with the truth and seeking forgiveness continue to plague humanity.
“I think that right now we’re living at a time when there are some people who don’t want to face the past,” Sands says. “They don’t want to acknowledge the sort of awful things that we have done as a race, as a nation… This man that we are following in the story, the Mate, he’s done some horrible things that he admits to over the course of the play and all we’re asking him to do is just say them out loud.”
For John Logan, Swept Away is about having empathy for all, including “those who have sinned.” Over his computer are the words: “Nothing that is human is alien to me,” a translation of a famous quote that is linked to the Roman playwright Terence but has been used by the philosopher Seneca and others subsequently.
“So when I look at the actions of the Mate in this story, I say he’s a human being just like I am, and I’m capable of the same exaltation, the same joy, the same degradation, and the same violence, because nothing that is human is alien to me,” he says.
This story was edited for broadcast and digital by Meghan Collins Sullivan and produced for radio by Isabella Gomez-Sarmiento.
Transcript:
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
A musical set to songs by The Avett Brothers received rave reviews when it premiered at Berkeley Repertory Theater in early 2022.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #1: (As characters, singing) Ain’t no man…
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #2: (As characters, singing) Lord, lay your hand…
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #1: (As characters, singing) Ain’t no man…
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #2: (As characters, singing) …On my shoulder.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #1: (As characters, singing) Ain’t no man or men that can change the shape my soul is in, my soul is in.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #2: (As characters, singing) Guide me to my home.
KELLY: Now “Swept Away” is doing the same at Arena Stage here in D.C. It’s inspired by the true story of a shipwreck in the late 1800s. Desperate, starving seamen adrift in the ocean resort to cannibalism to survive. Now, that might not sound like the most appealing setting for a musical, but as NPR’s Elizabeth Blair reports, “Swept Away” is also about family, truth and forgiveness.
ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE: Long before there was even an idea for a musical, “Swept Away” was a song on The Avett Brothers’ 2004 album, “Mignonette.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SWEPT AWAY”)
THE AVETT BROTHERS: (Singing) And who cares about tomorrow? What more is tomorrow than another day when you swept me away?
BLAIR: The Mignonette is the name of a ship that sank off the coast of Africa in 1884. The story of the three crew members who survived is harrowing. Dying of starvation, they agreed to sacrifice a fourth crew member in order to survive. When they were finally rescued, they told the truth about what they’d done. Scott even read a book about the Mignonette. He says ultimately, it was a story about truth.
SCOTT AVETT: Because at the end, the truth was – although the truth was the right thing, it was going to be a cause of suffering.
BLAIR: More than a decade after the album came out, Avett says they got a call proposing to turn it into a musical.
AVETT: It made perfect sense because I visualized these things as whole stories.
BLAIR: John Logan, whose credits include the movie “Skyfall” and “Gladiator” and the Broadway shows “Red” and “Moulin Rouge,” was brought in to craft a story out of the Avett Brothers’ songs. Logan says he knew their music but now pored over their entire catalog.
JOHN LOGAN: And I was just struck by the poetry of their lyrics, by the intensity of the music…
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “NO HARD FEELINGS”)
THE AVETT BROTHERS: (Singing) And walk through the night straight to the light, holding the love I’ve known in my life and no hard feelings.
LOGAN: …And by the way they could explore different characters through songs, and that’s what musicals do.
BLAIR: It helps that the characters The Avett Brothers have written about include the pious and the profane. At one point in “Swept Away,” the most religious character on the ship kneels to pray, singing the only song the Avetts wrote specifically for the show.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character, singing) Lord, lay your hand on my shoulder, and guide me to my home.
BLAIR: The most hedonistic character laughs at the man’s devotion and breaks into one of the Avett’s most popular songs.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, singing) There ain’t no man can save me. Ain’t no man can enslave me. Ain’t no man or men that can change the shape my soul is in. There ain’t nobody here who can cause me pain or raise my fears ’cause I got only love to share.
BLAIR: Played by Tony winner John Gallagher Jr., the mate, as he’s called, is the one who ultimately suggests they kill a crew member in order to survive. John Logan has him sing “Satan Pulls The Strings.”
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOHN GALLAGHER JR: (As The Mate, singing) When the winter yields to summertime, the whippoorwill – she sings. My heart is in the puppet box, and Satan pulls the strings. Satan pulls the strings. Mama, Satan pulls the strings.
LOGAN: That’s one of the things that made the Avetts’ catalog so incredible for this kind of tale of mortality and morality – this, like, wrestling with darkness and light and faith and, what is my meaning?
BLAIR: Adrian Blake Enscoe plays Little Brother in “Swept Away.” Big Brother is played by Stark Sands. Little Brother is a dreamer eager for adventure. Big Brother is more of a homebody and deeply religious. When they first get on the ship, they’re arguing, but it’s obvious they care about each other. In the song “Murder In The City,” they instruct each other what to do if one of them gets killed.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ADRIAN BLAKE ENSCOE: (As Little Brother, singing) If I get murdered in the city, don’t go revenging in my name. One person dead from such is plenty – no need to go get locked away.
BLAIR: Scott Avett says this was always a very personal song about him and his brother and bandmate, Seth.
AVETT: I didn’t think it was relatable. I think when the song was happening or when the song was written, I thought that it was all mine and that it was all ours, all Seth and I. Like, this is Seth and I’s experience. You know, this is our experience. And that’s just not true. It is, but it is many other – like, it’s everybody’s experience, especially with siblings.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ENSCOE: (As Little Brother, singing) I wonder which brother is better, which one our parents love the most. I sure did get in lots of trouble. They seemed to let the other go.
BLAIR: Scott Avett remembers when he saw “Swept Away” for the first time.
AVETT: I thought, these guys can really sing a lot better than me (laughter). I was like, they have a lot more control with their voices than I’ll ever have. And I think it’s beautiful.
BLAIR: So how is a musical about brotherhood, a 19th-century shipwreck and cannibalism relevant to today? “Swept Away” wrestles with what it means to tell the truth and to forgive. Stark Sands, who plays Big Brother, believes these are themes that continue to plague humanity.
STARK SANDS: I think that right now we’re living at a time when there are some people who don’t want to face the past. They don’t want to acknowledge the sort of awful things that we have done as a race, as a nation. And I know that’s sort of atmospheric, big-picture stuff, but it’s there. And this man that we are following in the story, The Mate – he’s done some horrible things that he admits to over the course of the play, and all we’re asking him to do is just say them out loud.
BLAIR: For John Logan, “Swept Away” is about having empathy.
LOGAN: Empathy means empathy to those who have sinned. It means empathy to those who are degrading and awful people. But it means empathy to all. You know, there’s the quote that is above my computer, nothing that is human is alien to me. And so when I look at the actions of The Mate in this story, I say, he’s a human being just like I am. And I’m capable of the same exaltation, the same joy, the same degradation and the same violence because nothing that is human is alien to me.
BLAIR: The cast and crew of “Swept Away” are hoping for a turn on Broadway in the future. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ADRIAN BLAKE ENSCOE AND STARK SANDS: (As Little Brother and Big Brother, singing) Make sure my sister knows I loved her. Make sure my mother knows the same. Always remember there was nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name. Make sure my sister knows I loved her. Make sure my mother knows the same. Always remember there was nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name. Always remember there was nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name.
