Stingā€™s ā€˜Last Shipā€™ had a short sail on Broadway. Why itā€™s back, buoyed by women...

Sting would be glad to live in a world ruled by women. He says there are few trials women aren’t strong enough to endure, and few troubles they can’t summon the will to fix.

That’s why when faced with retooling his first Broadway musical, “The Last Ship,” Sting chose to make women the backbone of the new book.

“My avatar is now a girl who wants to be a musician and escape,” the singer says while sitting in his dressing room backstage at the Ahmanson Theatre, where this musical - inspired by Sting’s childhood, spent in the shadow of a northeastern England shipyard - opens Wednesday and begins the show’s first national tour.

Only a handful of stars go by one name, and Sting is in full possession of the confidence to make the move. Self-assured, relaxed, his head cocked slightly to the side, his voice gently hoarse from a winter cold, the former Police frontman and later solo star displays no anxiety over whether audiences will like his reimagined musical.

“The Last Ship” faced unexpected challenges when it opened to mixed reviews on Broadway in 2014. The story, about the struggles of a blue-collar town during the painful decline of the shipbuilding industry, did not originally feature Sting in the cast. His score was roundly praised (he received a Tony nomination for it), but the book by John Logan and Brian Yorkey was criticized for being unfocused and having an overly busy plot.

Read the full interview in the Los Angeles Times here.