BWW EXCLUSIVE: 5 SONGS BY... Sting On THE LAST SHIP

By: Pat Cerasaro Jun. 02, 2015

BroadwayWorld recently kicked off a brand new feature series spotlighting the best and brightest songwriters on Broadway and beyond with their own personally chosen quintet of songs that hold special meaning to them, titled 5 SONGS BY....

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Today we continue the 5 SONGS BY... series by talking to 2015 Tony Award nominee and world renowned Grammy Award-winning recording artist Sting all about his score for the recent mainstage musical THE LAST SHIP, for which he composed both music and lyrics. Besides describing the impetus behind the show itself and many of the standout musical selections, Sting also spotlights his influences and overall creative process in crafting the at turns propulsive, jaunty and delicately romantic score for the new musical as well as sheds some light on material that did not make it into the final version of the show, directed by Tony Award winner Joe Mantello.
More information on THE LAST SHIP is available at the official site here.
"Shipyard"
"'Shipyard' started as a list of names of people I knew from my town - a lot of them being people who actually worked in the shipyard in my town. And, so, I just started with the names and told people what they did - and what their dreams were; what their hopes and fears for the future were. That was the first song that I wrote for THE LAST SHIP and it was very long! It was about ten characters and I think we finally ended up with about three of them in the actual play. I always say good work is never wasted, though. In this case, the lyrics came first, but there are really no rules about songwriting generally - there are many ways to cut that pie, you know. For me, 'Shipyard' was sort of the opener in deciding who the characters were and what they did - so, it all just began with a series of names. That was the real opener of the show for me - and it could have been the opener of the actual show, too, I think."

"The Last Ship"
"In my hometown, which is a shipyard town, the only time that we saw a celebrity was when somebody would come to launch a ship - occasionally, you would get a member of the royal family or a duke or an earl or somebody important to show up to christen the ship. So, the conceit for 'The Last Ship' is that everybody comes - the Dalai Lama comes; the Pope comes; The Prince Of Wales; The Duchess Of Cornwall; a couple of other religious figures from the past; they all come. So, obviously, it's an ironic song - but, also, it has a very rousing and a very moving chorus, too, I think, which I love; I just love that chorus. Also, the most important and also the most difficult lesson I learned in making this musical with this collaborative team is that every song fights for its life on a daily basis - every line in every song does, too; and every verse. Every character is fighting for their life, too. After all, you have a very short time to tell a very complex story and the collaborative process can be very painful but it is also incredibly nourishing. I have to say, I had the best adventure of my life writing a Broadway musical."

"The Night The Pugilist Learned How to Dance"
"About halfway through the writing process I remembered something that inspired me to write 'The Night The Pugilist Learned How To Dance'. You see, it's a very tough town that I come from - everybody used to fight, but they also used to do quite a bit of ballroom dancing, as well. So, you know, if you wanted to get in with a girl you really had to learn how to dance - I never did it myself, but I imagined the character who was probably the toughest guy of all secretly learning how to waltz. And, so, that's how I came to write, 'The Night The Pugilist Learned How To Dance'. For this project, three-quarter time - waltz time - was very prevalent and I'm not sure why - and this is just one example. Added with the folk music and all the dancing in it, I suppose I understand why. You know, there is a kind of sense of old-fashioned romance about this piece that I really wanted to ignite. And, I have to say, in talking of waltz time, that Richard Rodgers was one of my mentors - although he never knew it! I was brought up with show tunes, particularly Rodgers & Hammerstein, so it does not come as a surprise to me that I would steal from the best and that this would evoke that kind of sound. I would absolutely say that Kurt Weill influenced this score, as well - I loved being on Broadway in THE THREEPENNY OPERA many years ago."

"Dead Man's Boots"
"One of the themes of the play is the often difficult relationship between fathers and sons. And, sometimes a father's love can be misconstrued as being too controlling or too limiting - just as the scope of a son's ambition can be sort of a pie in the sky fantasy as far as the father is concerned. And, of course, I have real estate in that issue, as well, given my own sons. Honestly, there's more of me in this piece than I ever had intended that there would be - just unconsciously. 'Dead Man's Boots' is definitely one example of that."
"What Say You, Meg?"
"'What Say You, Meg?' came very late in the writing process because the character of Arthur sings this song - at least in my first vision of the play - as a much older man. I had first written a song called 'Practical Arrangement', but the writer, John Logan, said to me, 'But he can't be old! He has to be a foil to Gideon - he has to be young and he has to be virile and he needs a younger-sounding song.' So, I really struggled with this - I loved 'Practical Arrangement' and I loved Arthur being an older man and the whole pathos of an older man falling in love with a younger woman; that really attracted me. So, it took me a while to get my head around this one, but I eventually did come up with 'What Say You, Meg?' and imagined myself as a 22-year-old. Aaron Lazar was already involved by the point at which I wrote this song and so I wrote it with his voice in mind - and he sung it just beautifully; beautifully. Of course, we had chosen voices that already suited the material that existed and this was no exception being a new song that I wrote late in the process - we had wonderful, wonderful singers in this show. I am so glad that this song is on the album, as well - we spent a lot of effort trying to make this the best possible album. You know, Broadway cast albums are made in such a short amount of time, it's crazy - especially compared to my world! Nonetheless, I think we did a great job with it."

Photo Credit: Walter McBride

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