EXCLUSIVE: Swept Away, the Broadway-aimed musical with music and lyrics by roots rock band The Avett Brothers, has announced principal cast for its fall-winter 2023 production at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., with John Gallagher, Jr. (Spring Awakening), Stark Sands (& Juliet), Adrian Blake Enscoe (TV’s Dickinson), and Wayne Duvall (the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?) will play the four survivors of a whaling ship disaster.
The casting, announced by Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, reunites the principals from the musical’s 2022 Berkeley Repertory Theatre world premiere.
The four actors will be making their Arena Stage debuts.
“One of our favorite things at Arena Stage is finding new artists and audiences for the stories we are blessed to help tell,” said Edgar Dobie, Arena Stage Executive Producer and President of the Corporation. “Swept Away allows us to offer a welcoming embrace to The Avett Brothers and a whole new group of friends to share what we all know to be true: musical storytelling at its best.”
Written by Tony Award winner John Logan (Red, Moulin Rouge! The Musical), directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening, American Idiot), with music and lyrics by The Avett Brothers, Swept Away will run November 25 – December 30 at the Arena, with an official opening on Wednesday, December 6.
The synopsis: Set in 1888, Swept Away follows four survivors – a young man in search of adventure, his big brother who has sworn to protect him, a captain at the end of a long career at sea, and a worldly first mate who has fallen from grace – after a violent storm sinks their whaling ship off the coast of New Bedford, Massachusetts. How far will they go to stay alive? And can they live with the consequences?
The full cast and creative team will be announced at a later date.