A New Musical by Sting Is Coming to Broadway

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Lately, the idea of rock stars bringing their material to Broadway has become a bit of a trend, with mixed results. Apparently not put off by Bono’s recent experiences on the Great White Way, Sting is collaborating with Brian Yorkey (the multiple prize-winning book writer and lyricist of the very excellent Next to Normal), on a new musical called The Last Ship, that will begin table readings in New York this October. While there’s no plot summary at the moment, based on the musical’s characters and setting (1980s Newscastle), it sounds like the show will be at least semi-autobiographical.

“I won’t say the score is complete, because the score’s not complete until God knows when,” Yorkey told ArtsBeat. “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.” What do you think? Does the softer, New Age yogi Sting have a rock musical in him? Or would you be more excited to hear what the Sting of an earlier era would have come up with?