'The Last Ship': Sting Is Writing A Musical

Sting -- as in former Police frontman Sting, not "most famous wrestler of this era" Sting -- is collaborating with the Pulitzer/Tony-winning writer of "Next To Normal," Brian Yorkey, on a musical, according to the New York Times. "The Last Ship" looks to be semi-autobiographical -- set in eighties Newcastle, where Sting was born and raised, and starring a character named Gideon (not too far from Sting's given name, Gordon). Thirty-something Gideon is described thusly:

Charismatic, charming, cynical, worldly-wise; quick to buy a round or throw a fist, slow to open his heart. Grew up around the shipyards of Newcastle, got out as soon as he could, coming home to come to terms with his family, his history, and his future.

Yorkey told the Times that while the score isn't complete, Sting's written 20 to 24 "amazing" songs that are "very, very distinctly Sting but it also is theater music...not just pop music transposed into the theater.” The musical is based on Sting's '91 album The Soul Cages, and according to Playbill, will include "a handful of pre-existing Sting songs framed within a new context."

Hey, cool! So far, everything to do with this sounds... perfect?

(via ArtsBeat, Rolling Stone)