Sting and Brian Yorkey Team Up for New Musical: THE LAST SHIP

According to the NY Times, music legend Sting and Tony winner Brian Yorkey are in the process of writing a new musical entitled THE LAST SHIP, which will begin readings in October. Sting will pen the music and lyrics for the project, while Yorkey is writing the book and will also direct. As revealed by a casting breakdown, the show will take place in 1980's Newcastle. 

Yorkey revealed on the project: "It's Sting's first foray into writing for musical theater, so we wanted to start having him meet actors and hear them sing at the earliest possible point."

He continued, "I won't say the score is complete, because the score's not complete until God knows when. But he's written a couple dozen, maybe 20, 24, amazing new songs for the show. He's writing great theater music. It's very, very distinctly Sting but it also is theater music. It's not just pop music transposed into the theater."

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Sting has received sixteen Grammy Awards for his work, receiving his first Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1981, and an Oscar nomination for the best song. He is a member of both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Prior to starting his solo career, he was the principal songwriter, lead singer and bassist of the rock band The Police.

Yorkey shared the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2009 Tony Award for Best Original Score with composer Tom Kitt, and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for Next to Normal. Prior to bringing Next to Normal to Broadway, Yorkey was affiliated with Village Theatre, where he began as a KidStage student and eventually progressed to a six-year tenure as associate artistic director.[2] Five musicals written by Yorkey - Funny Pages (1993), Making Tracks (2002), The Wedding Banquet (2003), Play it by Heart (2005), and A Perfect Fall (2007) - were staged there.