Sting‘s musical The Last Ship closed on Broadway in January of 2015, but now it’s sailing back to New York City — just a little further uptown.
A reworked version of the Tony-nominated musical, inspired by Sting’s own childhood in Wallsend, a shipbuilding town in the north of England, will play at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House for nine performances. The musical, running from June 9 to 14, 2026, features a new book and new and revised songs by Sting.
The former Police frontman will star in the production as shipyard foreman Jackie White, while his frequent musical collaborator Shaggy will also appear, playing the role of the ferryman.
Previewing the new production for reporters at the Met on Wednesday, Sting explained that as a kid, he watched “thousands of men” go to work in the shipyard each morning.
“It was dark. It was dangerous. It was noisy and I would think, as I kid, ‘Is this what I’m supposed to do when I grow up?'” he recalled. “So I did everything in my power to escape that destiny.”
But after he found success, Sting said, “I realized I had a debt to pay. And the debt was to my community, the community that made me who I am. And the debt would be paid in the form of a story: to tell a story about my community.”
On Wednesday, Sting performed several songs from the musical on the Met stage, accompanied by just guitar and piano. He will release an expanded edition of his 2013 album The Last Ship on Dec. 5. It includes five brand-new, never-released recordings.
Tickets for The Last Ship go on sale Nov. 13 at 12 p.m. ET at metopera.org/thelastship.
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