“Swept Away,” a darkly elegiac musical that includes the songs of the Avett Brothers, will finish its Broadway run Dec. 15, lower than a month after opening.
The musical, a few Nineteenth-century shipwreck and its aftermath, explores the lengths to which human beings will go with the intention to survive. Although set in fictional circumstances, it’s primarily based on an actual Nineteenth-century tragedy that led to an essential authorized case in Britain.
“Swept Away” started previews Oct. 29 and opened Nov. 19 on the Longacre Theater. At the time of its closing it should have performed 20 previews and 32 common performances.
The present value as much as $14.5 million to capitalize, in accordance with a submitting with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and that cash has not been recouped. The weekly grosses have been constantly effectively beneath what it value to run, which is unsustainable.
“Swept Away” is the second new musical of this season to shut shortly after opening, following “Tammy Faye,” at a time when new musicals face an ever-more-challenging path on Broadway.
The Avett Brothers have a loyal fan base, and “Swept Away” was praised by the New York Times’s chief theater critic, Jesse Green, who described it as “actually concerning the gravest selections people could make, the depths of souls which are darker than the ocean’s.”
But different opinions have been combined, and the musical, just like the precise historical past that impressed it, contains cannibalism, which, though not featured prominently in advertising supplies or press protection, could have been a turnoff for some potential ticket consumers. Broadway can be full of reveals, lots of which characteristic extra acquainted titles or performers, and “Swept Away” was unable to interrupt via in that crowded market.
Many of the present’s songs have been featured on the Avett Brothers album “Mignonette,” and a forged recording is scheduled to be launched in February. John Logan, the Tony-winning creator of “Red,” wrote the musical’s ebook, and it was directed by Michael Mayer, a Tony winner for “Spring Awakening.”
The 90-minute present facilities on 4 males stranded on a lifeboat — the one survivors of the shipwreck. They are performed by John Gallagher Jr., a Tony winner for “Spring Awakening,” in addition to Stark Sands (“Kinky Boots”), Adrian Blake Enscoe and Wayne Duvall.
The lead producers of “Swept Away” are Matthew Masten, Sean Hudock and Madison Wells Live (based by Gigi Pritzker). Before arriving on Broadway, the musical had runs at Berkeley Repertory Theater in California in 2022 and at Arena Stage in Washington in late 2023 and early 2024.
