Could The Last Ship & The Bridges of Madison County be heading to the UK?

Broadway musicals The Last Ship and The Bridges of Madison County could be heading to the UK.

Following its Broadway closure, it has been confirmed that Sting's musical The Last Ship will receive runs in Norway, Sweden and Finland over the next two years. Broadway.com reports that Sting is also in talks about bringing the show home to the UK where it is set.

The Last Ship will play in Oslo in 2016 before opening in Stockholm and Helsinki in 2017. The show is being translated into each country's language.

Review: Rachel Tucker 'Back From Broadway' at the St James Theatre

Rachel Tucker 'Back From Broadway' 

St James Theatre

Reviewed on Sunday 19th April 2015 (Evening)
★★★★★

Fresh from originating the role of Meg in Sting's new musical The Last Ship in New York, on Sunday Rachel Tucker celebrated her return to London with the debut of a brand new concert show entitled Back From Broadway. Broadway's loss is London's gain as it was an absolute treat to see Tucker back up on stage belting out everything from showtunes to new writing as well as eighties pop classics. 

Big Interview: Rachel Tucker - Back From Broadway!

Rachel Tucker recently returned from Broadway where she created the role of Meg Dawson in Sting’s new musical The Last Ship.

Directed by Joe Mantello, the show ran in New York at the Neil Simon Theatre for four months following an out-of-town tryout in Chicago. During the run Rachel starred opposite Sting when he joined the cast in an attempt to boost ticket sales. 

Rachel is currently preparing to return to the St James Theatre with her new solo concert show Back From Broadway for two performances only on Sunday 19th April. 

She has also been cast in Lindsay Posner's revival of Communicating Doors by Alan Ayckbourn which begins performances at the Menier Chocolate Factory on 7th May.

Rachel was a semi-finalist on I’d Do Anything, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s television search for an actress to play Nancy in a West End revival of Oliver. After leaving the competition Rachel joined the West End production of We Will Rock You, starring as Meat and understudying Scaramouche. 

Next Rachel joined the West End production of Wicked as Elphaba. She starred in the iconic role for nearly three years and over 1,000 performances, making her the West End’s longest serving Elphaba. In 2012 Rachel won the West End Frame Award for Best Performance of a Song in a Musical for her performance of the show's anthem, ‘Defying Gravity’.

Rachel left Wicked in October 2012 and released her debut album The Reason, playing sell out concerts at the St James Studio and Theatre. Rachel played Meg Giry in the workshop of Love Never Dies and received a TMA Theatre Award Nomination for Best Performance in a Musical for her portrayal of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (Lyric Theatre, Belfast).

Her other theatre credits include: Ida in Farragut North (Southwark Playhouse), Mary in Tonight's The Night (national tour), Maureen Johnson in Rent (Olympia Theatre, Dublin), Sally Simpson in The Who's Tommy (national tour), Estelle Genovese in The Full Monty (national tour), Grace Power in To Be Sure, Kelly in Merry Christmas Betty Ford and Amy in Have A Nice Life (Lyric Theatre, Belfast). 

Yesterday I caught up with Rachel about her return to London. We discussed her upcoming concerts, what drew her to Communicating Doors, the closure of The Last Ship and how she found New York life plus much, much more…

A lot has happened since the last time we spoke! You’re back from Broadway and about to do some more concerts at the St James Theatre. The last one was incredible – what have you got up your sleeve this time round?

[laughs] Well… you know what… I feel like I set the bar quite high with that last concert! I’ll be honest with you, I am a bit worried about people’s expectations – will it be as good or not? I was worried I wouldn’t be able to come up with enough ideas of different things to sing and people to sing with and so on. But Andrew, it’s just happened again naturally. I stopped worrying about what I did in the past and have tried to concentrate on what else I would love to do. I had to remind myself that it’s a great opportunity to sing and act the stuff that I have never done but always wanted to do! It really is exciting for me! But obviously I’m not going to tell you all my secrets [laughs], I want to keep it all a nice surprise for everyone! I always like to have fun at my gigs, there may be one or two special guests…

Sting's musical The Last Ship starring Rachel Tucker announces Broadway closure

Rachel Tucker & Sting

It has been announced that Sting's musical The Last Ship will end its Broadway run at the Neil Simon Theatre on 24th January 2015. 

In an email to company members, producers Jeffrey Seller and Kathryn Schenker reportedly wrote: "We have been bewildered and saddened by our inability to sustain an audience for this musical that we deeply love." 

Featuring a book by John Logan and Brian Yorkey, The Last Ship is inspired by Sting’s own childhood experiences and his album of the same name. Joe Mantello directed the production which stars Rachel Tucker who is best known for playing Elphaba in Wicked for three years in the West End.

Watch Rachel Tucker in the trailer of new Broadway musical The Last Ship

Producers of new Broadway musical The Last Ship have released the show's official trailer. Written by 16-time Grammy winner Sting and Tony winners John Logan and Brian Yorkey, The Last Ship begins performances at Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre on 30th September starring West End favourite Rachel Tucker.

The Last Ship is directed by Wicked's Joe Mantello and features choreography by Steven Hoggett. Viva Forever's Sally Ann Triplett also features in the cast. Watch the trailer below!

Big Interview: Rachel Tucker - "I still can’t believe I'm going to Broadway"

Rachel Tucker is one of the West End's biggest stars and is currently preparing to make her Broadway debut in musical The Last Ship by 16-time Grammy winner Sting and Tony winners John Logan and Brian Yorkey.

Directed by Joe Mantello, who also directed Wicked, the production opens at Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre on 30th September 2014 following a pre-Broadway tryout in July at Chicago's Bank of America Theatre.

Rachel was a semi-finalist on I’d Do Anything, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s television search for an actress to play Nancy in a West End revival of Oliver. After leaving the competition Rachel joined the West End production of We Will Rock You, starring as Meat and understudying Scaramouche. 

Following a successful run Rachel joined the West End production of Wicked playing Elphaba. She starred in the iconic role for nearly three years and over 1,000 performances, making her the West End’s longest serving Elphaba. In 2012 Rachel won the West End Frame Award for Best Performance of a Song in a Musical for her performance of the show's anthem, Defying Gravity.

Rachel left Wicked in October 2012 following the announcement of her pregnancy, and in March it was revealed that she had signed to Big Hand Recordings in a joint venture with Elate Studio and would release her debut album in August 2013. The album, The Reason, has received both public and critical acclaim. The Reason is a very personal album, featuring popular songs from Rachel’s career and childhood, as well as handpicked numbers which have special meaning to the West End star.

Rachel’s other theatre credits include: Ida in Farragut North (Southwark Playhouse), Mary in Tonight's The Night (national tour), Maureen Johnson in Rent (Olympia Theatre, Dublin), Sally Simpson in The Who's Tommy (national tour), Estelle Genovese in The Full Monty directed by Jack O'Brien (national tour), Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (Lyric Theatre, Belfast) for which she received a 2008 TMA Theatre Award Nomination for Best Performance in a Musical, Grace Power in To Be Sure, Kelly in Merry Christmas Betty Ford and Amy in Have A Nice Life (Lyric Theatre, Belfast). Rachel also played Meg Giry in the workshop of Love Never Dies and co-presented The Friday Show opposite Eamonn Holmes for the BBC.

Alongside her theatrical career, Rachel and her husband Guy Retallack run The Bridge House Theatre which is described as 'South London’s most exciting arts project'. The theatre, which is preparing to celebrate its first birthday, has built up a strong reputation. Guy has directed a production of Macbeth which runs at the theatre until Saturday 19th April starring a handful of highly experienced West End stars.

I recently caught up with Rachel to discuss The Bridge House Theatre's production of Macbeth, why auditioning for a dream job in New York was the scariest day of her life, how she's feeling about her Broadway debut and why Defying Gravity is her favourite song...

Can you believe that The Bridge House Theatre will soon be celebrating its first birthday? 

No! It feels like we did our first comedy night three or four months ago! It’s pretty amazing; we’ve done so much in such a short space of time. It just takes time to get things going. It’s about building it up and getting the interest going and it’s about realising what it takes to get an organisation going and appreciating how business really works! 

Rachel Tucker to make Broadway debut in Sting musical The Last Ship

It has been announced that Rachel Tucker will make her Broadway debut in new musical The Last Ship by 16-time Grammy winner Sting and Tony winners John Logan and Brian Yorkey.

The production will begin performances at Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre on 30th September and officially open on 26th October.  The Last Ship is directed by Wicked's Joe Mantello and features choreography by Steven Hoggett.

Leading the company in principal roles are Broadway veterans Michael Esper (The Lyons), Aaron Lazar (Mamma Mia!), and Fred Applegate (The Producers). West End favourite Rachel Tucker (Wicked) will be joined by Sally Ann Triplett (Viva Forever!) as well as singer-songwriter Jimmy Nail and actor Collin Kelly-Sordelet. Ensemble casting will be announced in the coming months.

The new musical, with songs by Sting and a book by Logan and Yorkey, tells the story of Gideon Fletcher, a young man from the English seafaring town of Wallsend, who leaves his life behind to travel the world — only to return a decade later to find out that what he deserted is more than he ever could have imagined.