(banjo music)
- Broadway is back.
And so is The Broadway Show.
Thanks for sticking around I'm Tamsen Fadal.
(banjo music)
♪ Well, you, you send my life a-whirling ♪
♪ Darling, when you're twirling ♪
♪ On the floor ♪
- We've talked about it before.
Broadway shows get their start all around the globe.
And right now on stage in Berkeley, California
is a world premiere of the new musical, Swept Away.
It's a shipwreck story inspired by the songs
of North Carolina bluegrass group,
The Avett Brothers,
plus the musical stars some Broadway greats,
including Stark Sands and John Gallagher Jr.
♪ Yeah, you, you swept me away. ♪
- Let's check back in with Paul Wontorek.
- John, you're in the middle of giving birth
to a brand new musical.
How does it feel?
How are things going out there at Berkeley Rep?
- It's surreal, you know,
I think it's, it's surreal for all of us
to be coming back to being on stage
after this drought.
I first got involved in 2017,
so it's been a long gestation period.
So I think all of us are just kind of
pinching ourselves that, you know,
we've been given the the keys to the kingdom,
so to speak, which is just the chance to be together
in a rehearsal room again,
to be working on a new piece,
to be getting up on stage.
♪ Forever I will move like the world ♪
♪ That turns beneath me ♪
♪ And when I lose my direction ♪
♪ I'll look up to the sky ♪
♪ And when the black cloak drags upon the ground ♪
♪ I'll be ready to surrender and remember ♪
♪ We're all in this together ♪
- So I know you have a great relationship
with your director, Michael Mayer,
who, of course, led you
to your Tony-winning performance in Spring Awakening,
also American idiot.
What sort of drew you into this project five years ago?
- The thing where it, where it all began for me
was the, the music of The Avett Brothers.
You know, we, we featured the songs
of this full rock Americana band, The Avett Brothers
and I've been a big fan of theirs for years.
And, and I actually was a huge fan of theirs
the whole time that I was working
on Spring Awakening with Michael,
when we did American Idiot on Broadway.
I had an Avett Brothers poster
in my dressing room that I looked at
before I went on stage every night.
So it's this kind of kismet full circle.
The fact that an Avett Brothers show
kind of randomly fell into my lap,
being directed by one of my closest collaborators
was just such a no-brainer.
I, I agreed to do it before there was even a script.
You know, I, I said, absolutely,
I don't even know what it's gonna be,
I don't care.
If it's Michael Mayer
and it's The Avett Brothers,
I mean, that sounds like a dream come true.
So, you know, sign me up.
And then, you know, lo and behold,
John Logan, of all people, you know,
masterful dramatist that he is,
came on board to write our book.
And it's a, it's a stunning book.
If you took the songs out of the piece
it would stand alone as an amazing play.
He's just given these characters such, you know,
some depth, some, so much depth
and, and, and dramatic truth.
So all of those factors combined made it just seem
like a total, total no-brainer to me.
And, and, and I, I was right.
- Well, your, your crazy facial hair
is related to this show.
So what were- tell us a little bit
about what this is.
It's set in 1888.
- Yeah.
- We're off the coast of Massachusetts
and it sounds pretty heavy.
- It is, it's a heavy piece.
I'm not gonna lie.
There's a lot of levity
and, and, and catharsis and joy as well.
And if you listen to The Avett Brothers music
you'll find, you know, all the colors
of the rainbow dramatically in there emotionally.
But yes, the show takes place in 1888.
It's about a group of men that are
on a whaling voyage and they get shipwrecked.
And four of the survivors find themselves trapped together
on a small lifeboat in the middle of the ocean
with no food, no water
and seemingly no hope of rescue or survival.
I'm playing the, the second mate
of the whaling expedition,
who's kind of a crusty, hardened, you know
emotionally closed off kind of lost soul.
And so, you know, luckily Michael was okay with me
just not getting a haircut
for, you know, five or six months.
So that's how I came to be sporting
this disheveled and shaggy look right now.
- Is it safe to say that we'll see you stuck
on a lifeboat and swept away on Broadway soon?
- Oh, man, I really hope so.
You know, I, I, I wish that I could, you know,
drop like, you know,
more of a, like a, a morsel of a hint
that that's where we're headed.
We all hope so.
It's a turbulent time, you know,
there's obviously a backlog
of all kinds of shows that are waiting
for chances to get into theaters, you know,
shows that were canceled or delayed back in 2020
and new shows that, you know, are stepping up to the plate.
I would love nothing more
than to see this have a, a life beyond
because I do think it's good enough, you know,
maybe it's just cuz I'm, you know,
feeling warm and fuzzy on the inside
of the production right now.
But I definitely think it's one
of the best pieces of theater
that I've been involved in, in, in my career.
And so I, you know, that's saying something, so yeah,
nothing would make me happier
than being able to bring it
to, to New York and share it
with all my friends and family there.
It would be a real treat.