Avett Brothers musical 'Swept Away' makes for a spellbinding tale

The Arena Stage show about a 19th-century shipwreck ultimately proves itself worthy of a Broadway voyage.

"Swept Away," a new musical now playing at Arena Stage, is inspired by a real-life 19th-century shipwreck. (Julieta Cervantes/Arena Stage)

Waves of roots rock and soulful introspection come crashing one after the other in "Swept Away," the transfixing new musical that officially opened Wednesday night at Arena Stage. Inspired by the Avett Brothers' 2004 album "Mignonette," about four men stranded in the Atlantic Ocean after a 19th-century shipwreck, this morality tale launches with toe-tapping propulsion before anchoring for an intimate elegy on grief and guilt.

If the show's covid-hampered premiere last year at the Bay Area's Berkeley Rep was a choppy embarkment, then "Swept Away" finds its sea legs at Arena Stage. Directed by Michael Mayer with a pitch-perfect cast and talent-laden creative team, the unabashedly unorthodox jukebox musical boasts clear Broadway aspirations. Even during an imperfect back half, there's so much to admire that one can't imagine such a promising run being its last.

John Logan, the Tony-winning playwright of 2009's "Red" and screenwriter behind "Gladiator," "The Aviator" and "Skyfall," smartly weaves threads of fact-based tragedy and tunes from the Avett Brothers' folksy songbook ("Mignonette" and beyond) into a tight, 90-minute yarn. Through his four nameless, fictionalized protagonists, Logan probes the contrasting perspectives that might draw a man to the sea. Some, this show reasons, want to embrace adventure and brotherhood. Others go to escape self-loathing or misery.