John Gallagher Jr., Stark Sands and More Will Get Swept Away on Broadway; Show Completes Casting

Swept Away, the new seafaring musical scored by the Avett Brothers, has completed casting for its upcoming Broadway production. Performances will begin at the Longacre Theatre on October 29 ahead of an official opening on November 19.

As hinted by their recent appearance with the Avett Brothers in concert at Forest Hills Stadium, the show will star the returning principal cast members from its run at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Arena Stage: Tony Award winner John Gallagher Jr. (Spring Awakening), Tony Award nominee Stark Sands (Kinky Boots), Adrian Blake Enscoe (Apple TV+’s Dickinson) and Wayne Duvall (1984).

Also returning from the show’s run at Arena Stage are ensemble members Hunter Brown, Matt DeAngelis, Cameron Johnson, Brandon Kalm, Michael J. Mainwaring, Orville Mendoza, Tyrone L. Robinson and John Sygar. New to the cast are Josh Breckenridge, Rico LeBron, John Michael Finley, Chase Peacock, Robert Pendilla and David Rowen.

Swept Away is a tale of shipwreck, salvation and brotherhood set on the high seas. It features a book by Tony Award winner John Logan (Red, Moulin Rouge! The Musical), direction by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening, American Idiot) and choreography by Tony Award nominee David Neumann (Hadestown). Including Avett Brothers songs such as “No Hard Feelings,” “Murder in the City” and “Ain’t No Man,” the musical is partly inspired by the Avett Brothers’ 2004 concept album Mignonette, which was itself inspired by the story of the 1844 shipwreck of that name.

The show had regional runs at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2022 and at Arena Stage’s Kreeger Theater at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington, D.C. in 2023.

The Broadway creative team includes music supervisor Brian Usifer, music arrangers/orchestrators Chris Miller and Brian Usifer, music director Will Van Dyke, Tony Award-winning set designer Rachel Hauck, Tony Award-winning costume designer Susan Hilferty, four-time Tony Award-winning lighting designer Kevin Adams and Tony Award-winning sound designer John Shivers.