Art begets art: Screenwriter John Logan’s Swept Away brings the Avett Brothers’ album Mignonette to the stage. The musical saw its world premiere at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in January 2022. Arena Stage brings the show to D.C. on Nov. 25. As Teresa Sapien, Arena’s associate artistic director says, the production’s book and the music come together “in a spectacle that will leave people breathless.” The Avett Brothers, an Americana-roots revivalist group, draw inspiration from an unlikely place in the 2004 release. Written, produced, and performed by the Avett family, along with longtime bassist Bob Crawford, the music and emotion in each song ebbs and flows in a near narrative, pointing to the real story behind the album: Mignonette follows a British crew whose ship, the Mignonette, was lost in a storm off the coast of South Africa in the 1880s. Four of the crew’s survivors were stranded in a small boat for 19 days, driving them to cannibalism days before they were rescued. The band’s vocals evoke tangible passion and discernible musical skill and, with the show’s music coming directly from the album, Edgar Dobie, Arena Stage’s executive producer, tells City Paper in an email, audiences “can expect a rock concert vibe” from the production. Logan, Dobie says, “masterfully stitches the Avett Brothers’ soul-stirring music into a fictionalized reimagining of the 1884 Mignonette shipwreck with an intensity that lingers long after the lights have come down.” As Artistic Director Hana Sharif writes in the show’s press release, “The true genius of Swept Away lies in how the Avett Brothers peel back the layers of uncertainty, vulnerability, hope, and self-discovery to reveal our fundamental humanity in this exquisite musical.” By building upon the existing narrative in Mignonette, Swept Away creates a powerful exploration of humanity’s capacity for hope, strength, and forgiveness. Swept Away opens Nov. 25 at Arena Stage. arenastage.org. $66–$150. —Camila Bailey
Swept Away, opens Nov. 25
