The Avett Brothers Reveal ‘Swept Away’ Musical Coming To Broadway & Perform With Cast In Queens

Friday was an incredibly special day for The Avett Brothers as they not only released their long-in-the-making self-titled studio album, but they also announced their Swept Away musical is coming to Broadway this fall. Scott Avett disclosed the news early in The Avett Brothers’ concert on Friday at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens and then brought out members of the Swept Away cast to help perform the show’s title track.

The Avett Brothers provided the music for Swept Away which features a book by John Logan and direction by Michael Mayer. Swept Away tells the tale of the battle faced by survivors of an 1888 shipwreck off the coast of Massachusetts town New Bedford. The show debuted in 2022 at California’s Berkeley Repertory Theater and then ran in Washington D.C. at Arena Stage last winter.

“Some of you may have already seen our Broadway show,” Scott Avett told fans following the third song of the night at Forest Hills Stadium as he gave away the big news a little early. “It’s been an amazing journey for us and a learning experience which we’ve been so privileged and blessed to be a part of,” Scott added and stated, “We’d like to bring the cast of the soon-to-be officially Broadway show Swept Away — let’s here it for the cast of Swept Away — to sing with us.”

Fittingly, The Avett Brothers and the four main actors from the musicial performed “Swept Away” together. John Gallagher Jr., Stark Sands, Adrian Blake Enscoe and Wayne Duvall — who each appeared in the Berkeley Repertory Theater and Arena Stage productions — taked turns signing with Seth and Scott and added harmonies to the title track from The Avett’s 2004 EP which also is featured on the band’s 2004 album, Mignonette:

View fan-shot video of The Avetts and Swept Away cast’s “Swept Away” performance below:

The Swept Away cast weren’t the only guests to share the stage with The Avett Brothers on Friday night. A group of Muppet-esque puppets came out towards the back-end of the band’s main set in Queens as they did the night before at the tour opener in Philadelphia and may indeed continue the trend throughout the trek. Seth Avett explained to the audience that they wanted to be compared by critics to artists such as John Prine but were instead compared to the Muppets.

So the band leaned into the comparison by bringing the puppets on the road with them. The “Avett Puppets” — Seth Monster, Scott Monster and Bob Monster — “performed” Mignonette cut “Hard Worker” and “I Would Be Sad” off 2007’s Emotionalism in Queens as they did in Philadelphia. A version of “Ain’t No Man” featuring the return of the puppets drew Friday’s main set to a close.

The Avett Brothers sprinkled seven of the nine tracks from The Avett Brothers into the setlist at Forest Hills Stadium beginning with evening’s “Never Apart” opener. “Love Of A Girl,” “Cheap Coffee,” “Country Kid” “Orion’s Belt,” “2020 Regret” and “We Are Loved” also saw action in Queens. “Forever Now” and “Same Broken Bones” were the lone songs from the new LP that went unplayed in Friday.

Watch full-show audience-captured video of Friday’s show with the “Avett Puppets” intro at 1:02:45:

The Avett Brothers’ extensive 2024 tour pulls into New Haven, Connecticut tomrrow, Tuesday, May 21. Information on when Swept Away will debut on Broadway is forthcoming. Scroll below for all Avett Brothers dates.