Sting sails into Ahmanson Theatre with new musical 'The Last Ship'

Sting has sailed into Los Angeles with "The Last Ship." It's a musical he wrote that was inspired by his own childhood. The show has been completely re-imagined since it debuted on Broadway in 2014. And now, it's made its way to The Ahmanson Theatre.

In "The Last Ship," Sting plays the shipyard foreman. It tells the story of a town's prodigal son coming home after 17 years at sea. When he arrives, he discovers the shipyard his town was built around is closing.

The set for the show is impressive-- even for the man who lived in this shipbuilding community as a little boy.

"It is state-of-the-art. What it's doing is re-creating the vision I saw as a child," said Sting. "This is my street. I lived within spitting distance of a shipyard and I look back and I go, 'God, this is my childhood. I'm 7-years-old again.' It's very bizarre."

Sting has been appearing in this musical for seven years now and it still fills him with joy.

"To walk onto the stage and to be welcomed by an audience is a very, very powerful drug. I'm not sure it's a drug I ever want to give up, you know?" said Sting. "It's a beautiful feeling. People are very happy to see you. You entertain them and they're happy. They show their gratitude at the end. That's why we do it"

Frances McNamee is his co-star for this production.

"When you get material this good as well, you have, like, a responsibility to make it as good as it possibly can be and get it better every single time," said McNamee. "We've got a saying in our, in our, in our company, 'Every show better.' And it's that. That's what we're always striving for and if you have that attitude, you can't really get bored of anything."

Sting has one wish for audiences as they leave the theater.

"I hope they go, 'Wow! I didn't expect that.' It's all about surprise. All art is about surprise," said Sting. "Every song is about surprise. Novelty. They must leave the theatre going, 'Boy, that's not what we expected."

"The Last Ship" will run at the Ahmanson Theatre through Feb.16.