Sting's Musical ā€˜The Last Ship' Finds a Home and a Cast...

Casting and a Broadway theater were announced on Wednesday for "The Last Ship," the new show with music and lyrics by the Grammy Award-winning singer Sting and a book by the Tony Award-winning author John Logan ("Red") and the Putlizer Prize winner Brian Yorkey ("Next to Normal").

The producers Jeffrey Seller and Kathryn Schenker announced that the show, a tale of love and labor strife in an English shipbuilding town, will begin previews on Sept. 30 at the Neil Simon Theater, with opening night set for Oct. 26. (The musical "Big Fish" closed there in December.) The cast will include Michael Esper, Rachel Tucker, Jimmy Nail, Aaron Lazar, Sally Ann Triplett, Collin Kelly-Sordelet and Fred Applegate. Additional casting is to be announced. Also announced was the design team of David Zinn (sets and costumes), Christopher Akerlind (lighting) and Brian Ronan (sound). As previously announced, Joe Mantello ("Wicked") is directing, and Steven Hoggett ("Once") will be the choreographer.

Before opening on Broadway "The Last Ship" will have a Chicago tryout from June 10 to July 13. A concert staging of the musical that was performed at the Public Theater last year will be broadcast on the PBS series "Great Performances" on Feb. 21.

(c) The New York Times by Erik Piepenburg