I finally saw Swept Away on Sunday. It's a very well-performed show that is owned by John Gallagher Jr. as the mate. As other people have noted, it's a musical that is dominated by archetypes, so much so that no one - except for "Little Brother"'s sweetheart - is given a name. The title is bit of a giveaway, and the show's theme is what men might do to survive in horrible circumstances - and what it costs them.
I'm not familiar with the Avett Brothers, who have had a successful career as folk-rock artists, so I didn't know any of the songs going in. My wife in particular liked the melodies, and there is some impressive scenic design work done by Rachel Hauck. (My audience didn't give the mid-show big event an ovation.)
There is one overwhelming problem, and a second related one. First, the book by John Logan seems to strive for an epic quality, a sad story passed along through the generations. It's based on true events. But it is both too specific and too generic. I never particularly cared about any of the characters, despite the actors' best efforts. One character, the captain (played by Wayne Duvall), might as well not be there. It is not Duvall's fault; he just has little to do. The story revolves around the cynical mate played by Gallagher and two brothers - the younger one (Adrian Blake Enscoe) seeking adventure before he settles down, maybe, for a life with the aforementioned sweetheart, and his devoted older brother (Stark Sands) who chases after him and ends up on the ill-fated voyage.
Due to the structure of the story, the audience knows the basics of what will happen within the first few minutes. This removes most of the drama from the proceedings, and what's left are thinly-drawn characters who we are not given enough reason to care about. Logan devotes most of his energy to filling in the story of the younger brother played by Enscoe, but his motivations aren't terribly interesting. Enscoe does a good job with what he's got, and has a fine voice. Sands is stranded with a character who spends most of the musical reacting. He's devoted to his brother and he's religious, and that's pretty much it. Gallagher, as the putative villain and driving force of the action, is left to carry the proceedings by himself. But there just isn't enough for him to carry. He nonetheless does a terrific job what what he's given, and most of the show's memorable moments and songs belong to him.
It's not a sung-through musical, though the dialogue is largely perfunctory. That left the songs to carry character and story development, and they rarely do that. I found myself thinking afterward of Stephen Sondheim's maxim that the songs in a musical must advance the story or an understanding of the character. The songs often just exist on their own, prettily or compellingly sung. Too often, I felt like Logan and director Michael Mayer were trying to shoehorn a jukebox musical into a serious story even though it is based on an Avett Brothers' concept album.
All that said, the show - which I know had plenty of empty seats in early January due to Omicron (I was one of the people who pushed back the day I saw it by nearly two months) - was packed on a Sunday night.
As I prefer masks in such tight quarters, I was struck when the employee checking my vaccine record thanked us for not causing problems with mask wearing. (I said I was all in favor.)
Updated On: 3/1/22 at 04:31 AM
