26 Oct 2014 10:40 AM PT
Tonight at the Neil Simon Theatre, Sting’s folk-rock musical, music & lyrics written from an inspiration of his childhood, opens at the Neil Simon Theatre on Broadway.
“It’s an out-of-body experience. You relinquish a lot of control, but all of these people bring something to the process I can’t,” according to the 16-grammy winning Sting, making his debut as a composer-lyricist on Broadway.
Sting, who was born with the given name Gordon Sumner, grew up also in a town full of shipyards of Wallsend, a town in England’s industrial north best known for building the Carpathia, the ship that rescued the survivors of the Titanic. Disallusioned with his childhood town, he did everything in his power to leave. By age 15, he had left Wallsend and was playing the bass in jazz clubs, where the older players nicknamed him Sting because of a yellow and black sweater a girlfriend knit him.
His parents both passed away with cancer in 1987 which led him to write his album “Soul Cages‘ which he dedicated to his father. But the memories of Wallsend still troubled him, especially after the last shipyard closed.
Even with the successful career taking off, both when he was with Police and then his own solo career, he could not shake the past. The Town of Wallsend and his unhappy childhood haunted him. “It was the landscape I dreamt in,” he says, “trying to put right what went wrong in the past.” He released in 2003 “Broken Music” which was about his childhood, but that would be the last for a number of years while he toured playing other people’s music because he had been so drained from the memories that haunted him.
The prospect of writing the musical play, where he could express himself through voices other than his own was liberating for him. He felt that the characters were inside of him wrestling to get out and found that they streamed out of him at a rapid rate. He shared his thoughts with, now producer of The Last Ship, Jeffrey Seller who then paired him with Brian Yorkey, and the rest led us to the musical play.
The musical is directed by Tony-winning Joe Mantello (who won Tonys for Wicked & Casa Valentina). The Producers are Jeffrey Seller, Kathryn Schenker, Kevin McCollum, Sander Jacobs, James L. Nederlander, Roy Furman, Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss.
“The Last Ship“, the producers recount, “is set in the English seaside town of Wallsend, a close-knit community where life has always revolved around the local shipyard and the hardworking men construct magnificent vessels with tremendous pride. But Gideon Fletcher dreams of a different future. He sets out to travel the world, leaving his life and his love behind. When Gideon returns home many years later, he finds the shipyard’s future in grave danger and his childhood sweetheart engaged to someone else. This love triangle ignites just as the men and women of Wallsend take their future into their own hands and build a towering representation of the shared dream that defines their existence. And in the end Gideon comes to understand that he had indeed left behind more than he could have ever imagined.”
The musical has a book written by Pulitzer-Prizing winning Brian Yorkey (who wrote If/Then and Next to Normal), in collaboration with Tony-award winning John Logan (who won for Red).
Primary Cast
| Gideon Fletcher | Michael Esper |
| Arthur Millburn | Aaron Lazar |
| Meg Dawson | Rachel Tucker |
| Jackie White | Jimmy Nail |
| Peggy White | Sally Ann Triplett |
| Young Gideon/Tom Dawson | Collin Kelly-Sordelet |
| Father James O’Brien | Fred Applegate |
| Freddy Newlands | Eric Anderson |
Creative Team
| Music and Lyrics | Sting |
| Book | John Logan and Brian Yorkey |
| Director | Joe Mantello |
| Choreographer | Steven Hoggett |
| Set and Costume Designer | David Zinn |
| Lighting Designer | Christopher Akerlind |
| Sound Designer | Brian Ronan |
Ensemble Cast
The ensemble cast include: Eric Anderson, Ethan Applegate, Craig Bennett, Dawn Cantwell, Jeremy Davis, Bradley Dean, Alyssa DiPalma, Colby Foytik, David Michael Garry, Timothy Gulan, Shawna M. Hamic, Rich Hebert, Leah Hocking, Todd A. Horman, Sarah Hunt, Jamie Jackson, Sean Jenness, Drew McVety, Johnny Newcomb, Matthew Stocke, Cullen Titmus and Jeremy Woodard.
The play has already had some preview runs both in New York and Chicago. Tickets are currently on sale.