One of the most highly-promoted new shows of the Broadway season opened last night.

Music and lyrics for The Last Ship were written by multiple-Grammy-Award winner Gordon “Sting” Sumner. It was based on his boyhood in a shipbuilding town where the shipyard is closing.

Sting called the rehearsal process “an out-of-body experience. You relinquish a lot of control, but all of these people bring something to the process I can’t.”

The reviews appear to be muted. The entertainment industry bible Variety says, “The lyrical language of Sting’s mournful score gives poetic voice to the distressed shipbuilders, but depicting their story as a heroic allegory is regrettably alienating.”

Directed by multiple-Tony winner Joe Mantello, The Last Ship begins an open-ended run at the Neil Simon Theatre.