After the opening night performance of Sting's Broadway musical The Last Ship last night, the man of the hour took the stage to give a surprise thank-you speech--many months before awards season. Sting thanked his parents, and thanked the people of his hometown of Wallsend, where "they built the biggest ships ever constructed on Planet Earth" and whose shipbuilding culture inspired the show.
But then came the fun of it. "Last of all, I want to thank the Queen of England," Sting said. Why? He recalled that a member of the royal family would attend the launches of big ships, and that some people believed royals had magical healing powers. On waving to the Queen as she rolled by in her Rolls Royce on one such occasion, rather than being cured of anything, 10-year-old Gordon Sumner was "infected with the idea that I didn't want to be in this street, I didn't want to live in this house, I didn't want to end up in the shipyard--I wanted to be in that f*ing car."
Eleven Grammy Awards, 25 American Music Awards and one induction into the Hollywood Walk of Fame later, Sting may or may not have been driven to the Neil Simon Theatre in a Rolls Royce, but that was one sharp suit the former bassist/singer of The Police wore last night as he led the cast in a reprise of the title song of his first Broadway musical.
