“That man never stops. He’s been in this business for so long. The secret to his longevity is he’s a master of surprise.” So says actress Frances McNamee who appears as Meg in the musical The Last Ship, now playing at the Ahmanson Theatre. The man she is talking about is the composer of the songs in the musical, Sting.
“He’s always finding new things to do and new ways to work and new challenges for himself,” she says by phone a few hours before a recent performance. “He’s still passionate about what he does. That’s really inspiring to watch. I hope I get to work as long as he has and to maintain that work ethic. He is an example to us all.”
Chances are McNamee will have a lengthy career. Her arrival in The Last Ship comes with a show-stopping song called “If You Ever See Me Talking to a Sailor.” Meg declares her independence in the song, but there’s something else going on in her heart.
“I think her ability to hide her true feelings is a big part of her character,” McNamee says of Meg. “That’s what that song is about. She’s a bit of a mess inside and puts on a show for everyone.”
The show hides her true feelings of having her relationship with Gideon (Oliver Saville) suddenly come to an end when he chooses to explore life at sea for a not-insignificant number of years. And then he returns.
“She buries her vulnerability, but it comes out like a gale force wind when she first sees Gideon. She’s all or nothing. She’s either incredibly vulnerable or like a superwoman and never the twain shall meet.”
This touring version of The Last Ship is a significantly re-worked version of the show that opened (and closed rather quickly) on Broadway. McNamee has been on this new journey with the show for a couple years. But she never felt any pressure to “make it right.”
“I sort of treated it as a separate entity because I think if you put that pressure on yourself you are setting yourself up for a fall. My character has a completely different set of circumstances. I didn’t see the Broadway version. For Lorne Campbell, writing the book, there was that pressure to make the story more succinct and clearer and I think we’ve definitely done that.”
For McNamee this was the opportunity to be more a part of the creation of a new show rather than a tour of an already established one.
“It’s really exciting. You feel like you have a bit more ownership, I think,” she offers. “I know there was the Broadway version, but in my head I’ve originated the role because it’s a different story. We don’t have a lot of power ever as actors, but it is nice to be included and that doesn’t happen unless you are performing at the very start.”
Before being cast in the show she had to audition. Not just for producers, but for Sting. Luckily McNamee was given parameters for that audition.
“I didn’t have to spend hours going through my folder and pick the right song. We were told not to sound too musical theatre because they wanted a more folksy sound. I did August Winds from the show and If You Ever See Me Talking...”
Had she been given a choice of material outside of the show to use for her audition, McNamee had a few ideas.
“I’d like to say I would have sung Fields of Gold because that’s already in my repertoire or My Brother Lived in San Francisco. I might have sung that. Or maybe, change my mind again, there’s a folk song Water of Time which is about lovers that are parted. That’s a pretty good tune. Maybe a traditional Northern England folk song.”
That latter choice reflects that McNamee grew up less than an hour from where The Last Ship takes place in Wallsend, England.
“My actual town was a mining town and it suffered a similar obliteration in the ’80s as the shipbuilding community. I’m familiar with the taking away of industry and what happens when its heart is ripped out. I’ve lived through it so I can draw on that and can use it. All the communities in that part are aware of what has happened and have an affinity for one another.”
Though the show is set in the not-so-distance past, McNamee feels as though the show has a lot to say to present-day audiences about the power of raising one’s voice and, in particular, a community raising its voice.
“I think there are plenty of things that are happening to us without our permission. It’s that message of galvanizing the audience to rally together. We are many, they are few. There is strength in numbers. When people don’t lie down and take what they are dished out it’s an amazing thing. We do have power. I think the new generation that’s coming up is really open to that message which is very exciting.”
Before our conversation was over, I asked about something Sting once said about success. He said, “Success always necessitates a degree of ruthlessness. Given the choice of friendship or success, I’d probably choose success.” Would she?
“I think I’d choose friendship because I think ultimately at the end of it all you would regret not having any friends around you. If you had your rights right around at the end of your life, the other stuff might not matter.”
It was then she hesitated and said, “Can I have both?”
The Last Ship continues at the Ahmanson Theatre through February 16th. The show then moves to the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco from February 20th to March 22nd. Additional stops are scheduled in Washington, D.C., St. Paul and Detroit.
Main Photo: Frances McNamee and the company of The Last Ship (All photos by Matthew Murphy/Courtesy of Center Theatre Group)