Sting’s Broadway musical to close after three months

Curtain will be permanently closed on 'The Last Ship' despite Sting taking supporting role himself

Sting‘s Broadway musical The Last Ship is set to close just three months into its run, it has been revealed.

The BBC says that the final performance of the production will take place at the Neil Simon Theatre in New York on January 24. The play, which tells the story of a group of shipbuilders in the north-east of England who try to take over a factory and construct a new vessel, was written by Sting. The musician also later took on a supporting role in the production.

The play had opened to mixed reviews in October and Sting was then drafted into replace actor Jimmy Niall to help boost interest, but its producers were concerned that sales would flag again when he eventually left the role. Producers Jeffrey Seller and Kathryn Schenker said in a statement: “We have been bewildered and saddened by our inability to sustain an audience for this musical that we deeply love.”

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Speaking previously about the project, Sting said: “I was brought up in a pretty extraordinary place, in the shadow of a shipyard, and it always had a kind of theatrical feel to it… I wanted to honour the community I came from.”

It was revealed in November that The Last Ship, based on a book by John Logan and Brian Yorkey, was struggling at the box office after it took in just over $100,000 on its opening day, which is far short of the minimum required threshold of $250,000-$350,000.

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