Sting Will Star In Canadian Premiere Of His Musical THE LAST SHIP at Princess Of Wales Theatre

Sting will star in the Canadian premiere of his critically acclaimed musical The Last Ship. Presented by David Mirvish and produced by Karl Sydow and Kathryn Schenker, the limited six-week engagement runs February 9 through March 24, 2019 at Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre.

This new production of The Last Ship, which has music and lyrics by Sting, has just finished a critically acclaimed 12-week UK & Ireland tour, which followed a sell-out run at Newcastle's Northern Stage.

Sting will play the role of shipyard foreman Jackie White in Toronto. Further casting to be announced.

Sting said: "It was a joy to see the show's journey from the rehearsal room to the stage this year - first in my hometown of Newcastle then around the UK and Ireland. It was also extremely moving to witness the incredible audience response in each city we visited. It will be hugely exciting and a personal privilege for me to perform in the show in Toronto and I'm looking forward to The Last Ship continuing its journey there next year."

David Mirvish said: "The Last Ship is a personal, powerful story of a community attempting to come to grips with societal and economic changes that will tear apart the very fabric that kept that community together. What makes it especially powerful and very moving is its point of view. It is written from a very personal place by a son of that community - the acclaimed singer/songwriter Sting.

"How lucky and privileged are we in Toronto to actually have Sting star in his own show? These opportunities - the stuff of theatrical legends - come along very rarely. We are indeed blessed that Sting has chosen our community in which to tell his own very personal story."

The Last Ship will replace Girl From The North Country, which has had to postpone its Toronto engagement due to scheduling conflicts with the show's author and director, in the 2018/19 Mirvish Subscription Season. Girl From The North Country will play Toronto seven months later and will be the first show of the 2019/20 Mirvish Subscription Season.

Subscriptions to the 2018/19 Mirvish Season are now on sale. Mirvish subscribers will be the first to see The Last Ship. Single tickets to The Last Ship will go on public sale later this fall.

The Last Ship, which was initially inspired by Sting's 1991 album The Soul Cages and his own childhood experiences, tells the story of a community amid the demise of the shipbuilding industry in Tyne and Wear, with theclosure of the Swan Hunter shipyard.

When a sailor named Gideon Fletcher returns home after seventeen years at sea, tensions between past and future flare in both his family and his town. The local shipyard, around which the community has always revolved, is closing and no-one knows what will come next, only that a half-built ship towers over the terraces. With the engine fired and pistons in motion, picket lines are drawn as foreman Jackie White and his wife Peggy fight to hold their community together in the face of the gathering storm.

This personal, political and passionate new musical from multiple Grammy Award winner Sting, is an epic account of a family, a community and a great act of defiance. The Last Ship features an original score with music and lyrics by Sting as well as a few of his best-loved songs; Island of Souls, All This Time and When We Dance. It is the proud story of when the last ship sails.

The show is directed by Lorne Campbell, the artistic director of Northern Stage and has set design by the Tony Award-winning 59 Productions- team behind the video design for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

The Last Ship has a new book by Lorne Campbell, original book by John Loganand Brian Yorkey, orchestrations by Rob Mathes, musical direction by Richard John, costume design by Molly Einchcomb, movement direction by Lucy Hind, lighting design by Matt Daw and sound design by Seb Frost. Other members of the creative team are dramaturg Selma Dimitrijevic, associate director Jake Smith, casting director Jenkins McShane Casting and associate musical director Sam Sommerfeld.

The Last Ship is produced by Karl Sydow and Kathryn Schenker.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride