Sting to Perform Benefit Shows for Public Theater This Fall

Sting will perform 10 intimate shows at the Public Theater in early fall to raise money for that institution, playing songs from his forthcoming album “The Last Ship.”

The concerts will take place in the 260-seat Anspracher Theater from Sept. 25 through Oct. 9, a tiny space for the former front man of the Police, who can easily fill arenas. The proceeds of the shows will go to support the nonprofit theater, and a limited number of free seats will be given out the day of each performance through a lottery.

“The Last Ship” is Sting’s first full-length LP of original material since “Sacred Love,” from 2003, and marks the end of a long song-writing slump for him. The songs grew out of the work Sting has done on a musical of the same name, which producers hope to bring to Broadway in the fall of 2014. The musical is set in a shipyard in Wallsend, England, near where Sting spent his youth.

Sting has promised to provide some insights into his creative process for the musical during the concerts at the Public, which begin the same week the album is released.

Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of the Public, said in a statement: “‘The Last Ship’ is shaping up to be a masterpiece, both an elegy for and a celebration of the working class life of the Newcastle shipyards.”

Sting, 61, whose given name is Gordon Sumner, has been working on the musical for nearly three years, collaborating with the writers John Logan (“Red,” “Skyfall”) and Brian Yorkey (“Next to Normal”). It is a homecoming story set against the backdrop of the decline of the shipbuilding industry in Newcastle during the 1980s. The show will be directed by Joe Mantello, the actor and director best known for “Wicked” and “Other Desert Cities.” It had a closed-door workshop and presentation in May for theater producers and other potential investors.

Tickets for the concerts at the Public â€" ranging in price from $250 to $2,500 â€" will go on sale to the general public on Sunday, July 14, at 10 p.m. on the Public’s Web site and two hours later at the box office. But American Express cardholders will get a chance to purchase the tickets starting on July 10 at 6 p.m.

In addition, on one of the nights â€" Oct. 2 â€" an unknown number of tickets will be reserved for members of Sting’s fan club, distributed through an online lottery. Oct. 2 will be Sting’s 62nd birthday.