“Swept Away,” currently on at the Longacre Theatre, was inspired by the 2004 album “Mignonette” by the American folk-rock band The Avett Brothers. Although the album was suggested by the shipwreck and survival story of the British yacht Mignonette, which sank in 1884, the narrative of the musical transcends time and space with its timeless themes of confession, forgiveness, redemption, transfiguration, and unconditional love.

The shipwrecked in “Swept Away” are, like many, those fallen from grace, those at the end of their career or perhaps the end of their lives, those looking to escape the past to find a new future, and those who think they are saviors. They are tinkers, tailors, soldiers, sailors, and spies. They are navigating the vicissitudes of human experience. None of them have names. They are the members of the audience.

The shipwrecked could be the mythic Gilgamesh, Noah, and Jonah, or anyone less known seeking shelter from life’s storm or attempting to evade responsibility. In this case the fallen are the Mate (a feisty and unpredictable John Gallagher. Jr.), the savior is a Big Brother (a sincere and faithful Stark Sands), the searcher is a Little Brother (an adventurous and carefree Adrian Blake Enscoe), and the one at the end of his career is the Captain of the whaler (a wizened and thoughtful Wayne Duvall). These four and the twelve swarthy sailors who do not survive the shipwreck are the whaler’s captain and crew. The foursome does survive the shipwreck, if one can call their survival story a victory over death. Think of a savior, I guess, and twelve loyal disciples.

Their story begins in 1910, twenty-two years after the shipwreck in a tubercular ward in New York City when the now deceased Captain, Little Brother, and Big Brother urge the surviving Mate to tell the real story of what happened in the lifeboat after the shipwreck. The shipwreck follows and the final scene returns to the Tubercular Ward in a public hospital where the ghosts continue to urge the Mate, who is near death, to make his confession, seek forgiveness and “join his shipmates.” Mate needs to finish the story to move on from life into death.

Thanks to the solid direction by Tony Michael Mayer, the choreography by David Neumann, the set design by Rachael Huack, the lighting design by Kevin Adams, and the sound design by John Shivers, the onstage shipwreck is as real as one could imagine. Kudos to the entire creative team for creating a shipwreck with an upended whaling boat and wind blowing throughout the audience.

Finally, kudos to the members of the ensemble cast who are all triple threats and who give authentic and believable performances. They challenge the audience to answer rich and enduring questions: What is survival and is there anything one would not do to survive? What is it like to love unconditionally and be loved unconditionally? Is guilt a universal concept and, if so, why is difficult to move from guilt to forgiveness? What does it mean to move from like to death?