The English city of Newcastle was hometown of the rock musician Sting, who as a young man witnessed the city's shipbuilding business dry up. He's paid homage to his town's heritage by writing and starring in a musical, "The Last Ship."
In this web exclusive, the rock musician Sting talks with Mark Phillips about his stage musical, "The Last Ship," in which he stars, and which is being performed on a global tour. He calls the show an elegy for what Newcastle and its people represented to him growing up. He also discusses why, for him, uncertainty is a key component of art; why performing "Roxanne" today is never tiresome; and why, for him, music is a church.
For centuries the English city of Newcastle was a hard-scrabble industrial powerhouse that built ships. It was also the hometown of the rock musician Sting, who as a young man witnessed the city's shipbuilding business dry up. He's paid homage to his town's heritage by writing and starring in a musical, "The Last Ship," which he's now taking on an international tour. He talks with Mark Phillips about his long career, and why he can't stop working.