The Last Ship sails home to start UK tour on Tyneside

MUSICAL BY STING SET FOR ITS UK PREMIERE IN NEWCASTLE

Culture editor STING’S musical The Last Ship, which opened in Chicago and ran aground on Broadway, is to be relaunched with a first UK production opening in Newcastle ahead of an extensive tour.

Tickets go on sale this week for the show which will premiere at Northern Stage, Newcastle, next March before going to Liverpool, Birmingham and nine other cities.

It will be the biggest tour undertaken by Northern Stage which should attract one of its biggest audiences.

Sting, now 66, grew up as Gordon Sumner in nearby Wallsend, where the story of The Last Ship is set, and began his professional career as a musician at the theatre, playing in the orchestra pit for a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.

And while he won’t appear in the show, his friend Jimmy Nail will again play shipyard foreman Jackie White.

Both men were at Sage Gateshead for the start of rehearsals last week, and last night Sting was at Northern Stage introducing The Last Ship as the theatre announced forthcoming highlights.

At the Sage, Sting reiterated his faith in The Last Ship which tells of a group of North East shipyard workers who, in defiance of the closure of their yard, decide to build and launch their own great vessel.

The central character is young rebel Gideon Fletcher – and there’s a love story.

But if critics in America were united in anything it was in their appreciation of the music which earned two Tony Award nominations in 2015 – best original score and best orchestrations.

The songs from the show were released on an album also called The Last Ship.

“This has been, honestly, the most satisfying, fun seven years of my life,” said Sting. “It has been challenging, it has been tough, difficult and emotionally draining.

“But I’ve had the most fun. For it to carry on now and start again in Newcastle is a huge privilege. We’re all very excited.”

Sting said after The Last Ship closed on Broadway early in 2015 – after he had joined the cast to boost ticket sales – the show had lived on in several one-off productions at theatres across America.

There had been a production in Salt Lake City and the previous week he had seen a production in Finland – in Finnish.

“I was kind of dreading it, but it was a very good production and people loved it. It was a shipyard town and people understood it.”

Of the American production, which opened in Chicago in 2014, he said: “It wasn’t a financial success but most musicals are that way.

“But we’ve had the opportunity to re-fit it for British waters and that’s a fantastic thing. It carries on. Even in New York there’s immense love for the play.”

Jimmy Nail, Geordie star of TV series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Spender and Crocodile Shoes, said he had decided to withdraw from the entertainment world before old friend Sting came calling.

“I don’t like the whole visibility scenario. I wanted a peaceful, anonymous life and I can have that in London.

“But this is different. I don’t mind banging the drum for something worthwhile.

“I feel I’ve never been granted shore leave, but this is fantastic. It really does mean something.

“I find it hard to articulate, but when I’m singing those songs I’m thumping my chest.

“I know that sounds insane, but I’m so proud to be given the opportunity to sing those songs and tell stories about people I know.

“My dad was a foreman in the yards and I was a welder. I served an apprenticeship at Parsons (the Newcastle engineering firm) after leaving