Sting wasn’t born Sting, you know. Years before he got famous as lead singer of the Police, he was Gordon Sumner of Wallsend, a spot in the northeast of England known for shipyards that boosters today call “historic” and “proud” because little in the way of shipbuilding actually goes in them anymore. Born in 1951, Sting grew up during the slow Detroitification of the Wallsend yards; now, at 62, he’s apparently in a retrospective mood—ergo his farfetched yet entertaining new musical, The Last Ship, set in the Wallsend of his youth.
Logan and Yorkey introduce some texture to offset the triteness. Gideon walks out on his dad even after the old man has a disabling accident, thereby turning a rejection into a betrayal; Arthur goes to work for a company that wants to “repurpose” the yards, thereby turning an ambition into a betrayal. Although they up the ante some, neither of these wrinkles yields significant follow-through.
With particularly creative help from from lighting designer Christopher Akerlind and choreographer Steven Hoggett, Mantello’s staging manages to be fluid while also evoking the iron-and-rivets, actetylene-torch-lit world of the yards. Cunningly, he evokes Sting, too, through the remarkably Sting-like vocal stylings of his Gideon, Michael Esper.
Through 7/13: Tue-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 2 and 7:30 PM Bank of America Theatre 18 W. Monroe 800-775-2000broadwayinchicago.com $33-$100
