Broadway’s newest seafaring musical The Last Ship, written by award-winning musician Sting as a love letter to his childhood spent in a northern England shipbuilding town, will play its final performance on Saturday, January 24.

Sting will continue his role in the musical until it closes. He had been performing since December, but ticket sales remained lackluster. However, during the first week of performances featuring Sting, the musical grossed more than $817,000, up from $491,000 the week before.

Lead producers Jeffrey Seller and Kathryn Schenker, lead producers of The Last Ship, sent word of the closing to members of the production and other supporters via email. “We have been bewildered and saddened by our inability to sustain an audience for this musical that we deeply love,” said Seller and Schenker, adding: “There are no easy explanations.”

The Last Ship tells a two-pronged story: the first thread features Sting as Jackie White, leader of a group of shipbuilders who find themselves jobless when new ownership shuts down the shipyard. Jackie and the shipbuilders plot to build one last vessel in their old workplace. Alongside this story, we are introduced to Gideon Fletcher, the son of a shipbuilder who returns home after 15 years to find his old girlfriend in love with another man and the mother of a 15-year old son.

Early reviews of the musical were a mixed bag, with the production receiving praise for the Sting-penned score but criticized for a muddled plotline and insufficient character development.

Despite The Last Ship taking its final bows, it was a banner year on Broadway; 13.1 million people bought $1.36 billion worth of ticket sales, a 13% increase in attendance and 14% increase in gross sales over 2013.