Sting Photo: CFP

The Last Ship, a musical by Grammy-winning rock star Sting based on his childhood in a shipbuilding town in northeastern England, landed on Broadway with a star-studded opening.

Actors Robert De Niro, Liam Neeson, Bill Pullman and Alan Cumming, along with singers Billy Joel and Debbie Harry of Blondie were on hand on Sunday night for Sting's Broadway debut as a composer at the Neil Simon Theatre.

Despite winning 16 Grammys, the former frontman of the rock group The Police admitted being nervous before the curtain went up for the show he had been working on for five years.

"I was brought up in a pretty extraordinary place in the shadow of a shipyard and it always had a kind of theatrical feel to it. And I thought - I wanted to honor the community I came from. It was about time," Sting, 63, said.

The musical charts the course of Gideon Fletcher, a shipbuilder's son who leaves his girlfriend, Meg Dawson, and his hometown of Wallsend in search of a better life. He returns 15 years later after his father's death to a town hit by recession.

"Rich score propels Ship," the New York Daily News said in a headline, while the New York Times called it an "ambitious, earnest musical," adding the seductive score is among the best composed by a rock or pop figure for Broadway.

Michael Esper (Frances Ha) is the adult Gideon and Collin Kelly-Sordelet, in his Broadway debut, plays his younger version. Rachel Tucker, who appeared in Wicked in London, is the feisty Meg.