Sting musical sets sail for Birmingham theatre

The Last Ship will feature Geordie star Jimmy Nail and has previously featured on Broadway.

The play will run for a week at the New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham, in April and rehearsals have begun in Gateshead featuring a talented cast.

In an exclusive interview with the Express & Star and Shropshire Star, Sting said: “I have always been welcomed warmly to Birmingham and I am looking forward to The Last Ship featuring there.

“It is a story inspired by the shipbuilding industry in Wallsend. But the themes are ones that many communities will recognise.”

The musical was written in 2010 and was inspired by Sting’s 1991 album The Soul Cages.

Sting contacted Jimmy Nail during that process, asking him to feature in the production.

Nail agreed to that request and played the lead role.

During a glitzy opening at the Neil Simon Theatre, on Broadway, in New York, Sting joined the cast on stage.

Celebrities in the audience included Billy Joel, Robert De Niro and Liam Neeson.

The Last Ship was subsequently nominated for a raft of awards, including two Tony Awards.

The show is being created at The Sage, in Gateshead, and Sting said he was delighted to be back home.

The star added: “It’s great to be back in Newcastle. The musical started across the river in a theatre six or seven years ago and I had a similar workshop. I invited some shipyard workers from Wallsend to basically give their permission.

“I said: ‘Well, what do you think? Do you think we should carry on?’ And they said: ‘Yes, we think you should carry on. It’s important’.

“So that was enough and off we went to Broadway. To come back here now is wonderful, I feel honoured.”

The musical was inspired in part by Sting’s relationship with his father, which also inspired The Soul Cages, which was written following his father’s death.

Sting added: “We have something that’s new and I’m very happy.

“I’m sure my dad’s watching from somewhere. I think he would understand it. I think he would appreciate that I’ve come home to honour where I’ve come from.

“I think it does have resonance today. It’s set in the 1980s but people will recognise the predicament, now.”