A musical about a shipyard – frankly, it doesn’t sound that exciting. Just saying.
Until you mention the name of the show’s star and creator. Sting. Oh yes, now we have everyone’s attention.
In an Australian exclusive, 17-time Grammy Award winner Sting (formerly of the constantly warring rock outfit The Police) is set to perform in his musical, The Last Ship, at QPAC’s shiny new Glasshouse Theatre from April 9 to May 3.
The global music icon will play a leading role in a renewed version of The Last Ship, the acclaimed musical first developed by Sting in 2011 and initially inspired by his 1991 album, The Soul Cages.
Rooted in his childhood in the British shipbuilding town of Wallsend, The Last Ship tells the moving story of a community of shipbuilders in the northeast of England faced with the closure of their shipyard – the heart of their existence.
Sting, now 74 (he was born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner) takes on the role of Jackie White, the shipyard’s foreman whose health is failing just as his leadership is needed most.
In this very personal show, the artist immerses the audience in a hometown he was desperate to escape, a world where love, loss and hope intertwine.
“I was born and raised in a shipyard town on Tyneside,” Sting says. “At the end of my street, more often than not, was the bowers of a giant ship towering over the street.
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“It was quite a surreal environment to be brought up in. The ship, the river, the sea, the church, the street, thousands of people going to work every morning to the shipyard. I decided it was not for me. I did not want that when I grew up. I did everything in my power to avoid it.
“At a certain point in my life I realised that the surreal environment I was brought up in was actually a gift. It was very rich in symbolism, and I needed to repay a debt to the society that brought me up.
“So, I decided I was ideally placed to tell their story, which hadn’t been told before – the closing of the shipyard.”
As a musical. Go figure.
When the show’s music director Richard John got involved, he may have been a bit tentative about it. The musician, composer and conductor started out workshopping a new version of the musical in Newcastle in England’s north.
“There we were overlooking the Tyne,” John says. “And that’s where the story started. It was 10 days of music-making, and I got to know Sting and saw how extraordinarily committed and focussed he his. What he can say in a rhyming couplet is so extraordinary.”
John’s parents emigrated to Western Australia and he studied at the University of Western Australia before returning home to England to make his career.
“Together with composer Ian Grandage, who was a contemporary of mine in Perth, we actually did a minor elective on the music of Sting,” John says.
It was in Perth that John first saw Sting perform and now decades later he is working closely with him. The show recently wrapped in Amsterdam and is now heading to Paris, then Brisbane, then New York.
Brisbane sounds like the odd one out in that lineup of capitals, but John doesn’t think so. In fact, he can’t wait to get here – and not just for the sake of the show. His 22-year-old daughter Emma recently joined the Queensland Symphony Orchestra as a horn player.
“That will be one of the most joyous things about coming to Brisbane for me,” he says.
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There are 16 musicians involved in The Last Ship, four of whom will be on stage. The rest will be in the orchestra pit with John.
“The show is epic and it’s packed full of music,” he says. “There are 37 songs. Amsterdam was a triumph, a complete sellout with standing ovations for every show. It’s very much an evening with Sting. He’s inspirational but terrifying.”
He refers to Sting’s energy and capacity for work. Inbetween shows Sting is continuing his STING 3.0 World Tour.
The last time your humble correspondent saw Sting was on his Songs from the Labyrinth tour in Brisbane in late 2008. He did a gig at Brisbane City Hall, joined by lutenist Edin Karamazov. The concert featured 16th-century lute-accompanied songs by John Dowland, showcasing a departure from his usual rock repertoire.
It was quite surreal sitting in the second row with Sting right there on stage, up close and personal. It was my induction into the music of John Dowland, which is quite beautiful. Talk about lucky.
‘It is extraordinary and powerful and has such depth and soul’
The Last Ship will be less personal in one sense, due to the large cast (including local backing choristers) but, on another level, it will be very personal because the show is straight from Sting’s heart.
“It is extraordinary and powerful and has such depth and soul because it is such a personal story,” John says. “There’s something very grounded about the music and the story.”
Sting’s beloved songs such as Island of Souls, All This Time and When We Dance are woven into the performance in a full stage production featuring a company of 28 artists, musicians and choristers.
The original stage production premiered in Chicago in 2014, followed by a Broadway (Neil Simon Theatre) run the same year, then continued in the UK, Ireland and various European and US cities.
This renewed version of the production includes new scenes and music, specially adapted for the 2026 run. Sting’s music – from gritty folk and rousing choruses to intimate ballads – forms the heart of the show.
QPAC chief executive Rachel Healy says it is a huge coup for Brisbane to secure one of the few international seasons of the renewed production.
“You might have experienced Sting’s amazing stadium performances in the past but witnessing a performer of this calibre sharing a fascinating and deeply personal story in the gorgeous intimacy of Queensland’s brand-new Glasshouse Theatre is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” says Healy. “This will be Sting like you’ve never seen him before.”
The Last Ship plays QPAC’s Glasshouse Theatre, April 9 to May 3.
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