Sting climbs on sinking ship show

Sting, who wrote the music and lyrics for the musical The Last Ship, will join the cast in December. Photo / AP

A musical about the decline of the Tyneside shipbuilding industry is proving a tough sell in New York.

Ticket sales for the new Broadway show written by Sting about his hometown of Wallsend are so disastrous the former Police frontman has been brought in to play the lead, at the expense of star Jimmy Nail.

Reviews for The Last Ship, which opened less than a month ago, have been cool.

While some critics praised Sting's rousing songs and the "hearty, stomp-heavy choreography", many complained the story was boring, a cardinal sin in a city where tickets cost up to $250.

"All the melodic tunes in the world can't save a show from the crucial failing of being dull," wrote David Rooney of the Hollywood Reporter.

For three weeks the show has lost $75,000 a week.

Sting replaces Nail, star of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, in the role of Jackie White, the shipyard foreman. Nail claimed he was stepping aside "happily" for the good of the show.

Sting will debut on December 9, performing eight times a week, with producers hoping his fans will come flocking.

But Broadway insiders say there's no certainty the substitution will boost ticket sales.

Sting's last appearance on the Great White Way proved a flop in 1989 as Mack the Knife in a production of The Threepenny Opera.

- Independent