The Last Ship to end its Broadway run on 24 Jan 2015
The New York Times have reported that the Sting musical The Last Ship has posted early closing notices, and will play its final performance at the Neil Simon Theatre on 24 January 2015.
The composer, singer and songwriter took over the role of 'Jackie White' from Jimmy Nail and will remain in the show until it closes at the end of the month.
The Last Ship originally opened on 26 October 2014, following previews from 29 September 2014 to mixed-to-positive reviews, with many praising the original score and the lead performances: "Sting brings it" (NY Daily News), "The pungent lyrics spring directly from character and situation" (NY Times).
In a statement shared with the Times, Producers of the musical said: "We have been bewildered and saddened by our inability to sustain an audience for this musical that we deeply love". They were "heartened that we have been able to share this work with 140,000 theatergoers since our start last summer in Chicago and that Sting's herculean participation on stage since December 9th has lengthened our run, filled the theater with enthusiastic audiences and helped to burnish 'The Last Ship' in the canon of beautiful, original new musicals."
In what has been a difficult season for new musicals, the production's costs outweighed the weekly income following an initial $15 million investment and a weekly running cost of over $600,000. Over the New Year holiday which is traditionally a lucrative time for Broadway productions, the musical was playing to 83% capacity, bringing in an income of 77% of its overall potential gross, compared to 20 other Broadway shows that were reporting between 90-163% gross potential.
Grammy Award winner Sting has continually been behind his musical, promoting the show on various television shows and live events, stepping into the musical on 9 December 2014 in an effort to boost the box office.
No replacement show has been announced for the Neil Simon Theatre.
The Last Ship tells the story of a community determined to preserve the only way of life it has ever known....and a woman who must choose between the two men she loves. It features music and lyrics by Sting and book by John Logan and Brian Yorkey and features direction by Joe Mantello and choreography by Steven Hoggett.
The Last Ship is produced on Broadway by Jeffrey Seller, Kathryn Schenker, Kevin McCollum, Sander Jacobs, James L. Nederlander, Roy Furman, Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss.
Sting and the cast of The Last ShipOriginally published on