SpeakEasy’s ‘Swept Away’ is a towering achievement

By Rich Fahey

BOSTON  — When put in a desperate situation – survival or death — what would you be capable of? And what if the situation involved a loved one?

The SpeakEasy Stage Company production of the musical “Swept Away” goes to some very dark places, but it does so skillfully and carefully, and only after allowing a superb cast and score to set the table for its harrowing climax. The result is a theatrical triumph, as SpeakEasy continues to prove it belongs in the top rung of local theater companies.

The Avett Brothers’ 2004 album “Mignonette,” which serves as the basis of the score, was loosely inspired by a notorious 1884 shipwreck of a boat traveling from England to Australia. Its captain, two crewmen and a cabin boy hung on in a lifeboat for about 20 days until, facing death from starvation, an unthinkable decision was made.

John Logan. writer of this musical’s book. has set this piece on a whaling ship out of New Bedford in 1888, a time when the whaling industry was taking its last breaths. This is the show’s first production after its well-regarded Broadway run in the fall of 2024.

SpeakEasy has invested heavily in the month-long run of the show, with top-notch acting, musical, and design talent signed on by director Jeremy Johnson. Because of the size and scope of the production — including its depiction of a 300-ton, three-masted whaleship — it is being produced in the Wimberly Theater in the Calderwood Pavilion of the Boston Center for the Arts instead of the smaller Roberts Theater.

The Avett Brothers’ folk-rock score, with sparkling arrangements and orchestrations by Chris Miller and Brian Usifer, melds seamlessly and soulfully with the action onstage.

“Swept Away” is a memory play with Mate (Peter DiMaggio), as the play opens, in a hospital ward 22 years after the shipwreck, still haunted by the memory of what went on in the lifeboat over 21 days. The others who were in the lifeboat with him – Little Brother, Big Brother and Captain —  have since passed on but appear to him to beg him to tell the whole story {“Go to Sleep”) and cleanse his soul before he dies. DiMaggio leads the way for the cast with his tortured, but textured portrait of a man who has wandered – sometimes wickedly – through life but still seeks redemption and forgiveness.

Little Brother (Max Connor) is a restless, impetuous young farm boy who loves Melody Anne but decides to seek adventure on the whaleship; his Big Brother (Bishop Levesque),  has been trying to save his sibling from himself for his entire life, and soon finds himself forced to go along with the crew in an effort  to protect his brother from harm. A good Christian soul, Big Brother realizes early on with “Lord, Lay Your Hand on My Shoulder” he will find no solace with the godless crew. Both are poignant, powerful performances, with an ultimate sacrifice at the core.

The Captain is the estimable Christopher Chew, a local treasure, on his – and the boat’s – final voyage. Chew has a lovely vocal moment in “May it Last.”

All of the voices – individual and choral alike – are superb, again aided by the arrangements and the music direction by Paul S. Katz.

A fine ensemble breathes life into the musical numbers aided by the eight-piece orchestra led by Katz, and the sterling choreography by Ilyse Robbins. Aerialist Ezra Quinlan displays the strength and daring that the crew members of the time used to manipulate the massive sails.

The production elements are simply sublime. Scenic designer Janie E. Howland has done some amazing work in tight spaces for many years, and here she gets to spread her wings in depicting the huge whaleship, before morphing to the more intimate if no less wrenching lifeboat scenes. It is a dark show, and Karen Perlow’s lighting reflects it.  Costume designer Seth Bodie’s work is period perfect, and the sound design by James Cannon captures and perfectly balances vocals and music. All of the elements come together beautifully to portray the fateful moment of the shipwreck.

Even when we seem to know exactly how the tale ends, book writer Logan inserts a final, dramatic and very effective twist.

In interviews and program notes, director Jeremy Johnson, possibly headed to a future awards podium, described his strong connection to the show. It began when his younger brother sent him the Avett Brothers’ song, “Murder in the City.” He felt it described the relationship he had with his brother and that, after seeing the group twice in concert, the group’s lyrics conveyed the sense “that you can be a sensitive, caring man to other men.”   

Johnson said that as a sober person in long-term recovery, “Mate’s story of shame, loss, redemption and faith reminds me to believe in the possibility of forgiveness, grace, and second chances.”

“Swept Away” is a great spectacle — albeit a very intimate one when the action moves to the lifeboat – and a towering achievement for SpeakEasy,  yet another landmark production for the theater company.

The SpeakEasy Stage Company production of “Swept Away.” Book by John Logan. Music and Lyrics by the Avett Brothers. Directed by Jeremy Johnson. In the Wimberly Theatre in the Calderwood Pavilion of the Boston Center for the Arts through May 23. For tickets, bostontheatrescene.com.

Nile Scott Studio