Sting on THE LAST SHIP: 'I Had to Throw My Best Friend Under the Bus to Save the Play'

THE LAST SHIP just played its final performance on Broadway on January 24 at theNeil Simon Theatre (where it has played 29 preview performances and 105 regular performances). On December 9, 2014, Sting, who composed The Last Ship's score, joined the cast in the role of Jackie White, the foreman of the shipyard who rallies his community to build one last ship meant to sail the world. Sting recently spoke openly about the casting switch up in an interview with The Stage.

He said: "Early on in the run we were in such a financial hole that we would have closed immediately, and I didn't want that to happen. The producers said to me, 'You have to go into the show'. I said, 'But there's no part for me'. They said I'd have to take over from Jimmy Nail. That meant I had to throw my best friend under the bus to save the play."

Click here to read the full interview.

THE LAST SHIP has music and lyrics by Sting, the 16-time Grammy Award winning musician, with a book by John Logan and Brian Yorkey, choreography by Steven Hoggett and is directed by Joe Mantello. Musical direction, orchestrations and arrangements are by Emmy Award-winner Rob Mathes.

The musical's original Broadway cast features Michael Esper, Rachel Tucker, Jimmy Nail, Fred Applegate, Aaron Lazar, Sally Ann Triplett and Collin Kelly-Sordelet.

THE LAST SHIP is the unforgettable story of passion and hope about a shipbuilding community that rallies to preserve its way of life by building one last ship meant to sail the world, and of a woman who must choose between the two men she loves.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos