Friday, March 29, 2024

Sting’s Big Kennedy Center Surprise: “The Last Ship” Cast Buses Down to DC After Sunday Matinee

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What do you want to do at the end of a long week performing in a Broadway musical, finishing the 8th show on Sunday matinee at 6pm? Why not hop on a bus and drive like lightning to Washington DC to appear on stage at the Kennedy Center?

That’s what the entire cast of “The Last Ship” did yesterday. All of them including all the principals came off the Sunday matinee and got down to DC to surprise Sting at his Kennedy Center honors show. They just made it, too, arriving in time to close the show in a rousing rendition of Sting’s Police hit “Message in A Bottle” led by Bruno Mars, Bruce Springsteen, Herbie Hancock, Esperanza Spaulding and Lady Gaga– each of whom had performed a Sting song as part of the celebration.

Indeed, Bruno Mars– whose own hit “Locked out of  Heaven” sounds suspiciously like the whole Police catalog rolled into one single– had just done a super medley of “So Lonely” and “Roxanne” as a sort of good-natured payback in recognition of his appropriation.

Sting really got the royal treatment at last night’s show. His toast was given by none other than Meryl Streep, America’s unofficial cultural royalty and previous Kennedy Center inductee. She gave a rousing speech endorsing “The Last Ship” and recalling a love scene she’d had with Sting years ago in the movie “Plenty.”

“That was hard work,” she joked.

Five of Sting’s six kids were at the show (the 6th is in college), as well as two little grandchildren and beautiful wife Trudie Styler. Almost the entire proceedings were a surprise to the 63 year old rocker, including watching President Obama mouth the words to “Roxanne” while Bruno Mars sang it.

“This is a long way to come for a fellow from Wallsend,” Sting said to me at one point, referring to his hometown in Newcastle, England, the setting for “The Last Ship.” He begins appearing in the show starting tomorrow night for 4 weeks.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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