The Broadway musical “The Last Ship” will close on Jan. 24 despite an unusual attempt by Sting, its composer, to try to increase ticket sales and spread word about the show by joining its cast last month. Two of the musical’s producers, Jeffrey Seller and Kathryn Schenker, shared the news in an email on Monday night to members of the production and other supporters of “The Last Ship.”

“We have been bewildered and saddened by our inability to sustain an audience for this musical that we deeply love,” the producers wrote about the show, which cost $15 million to mount on Broadway and an additional $625,000 or more to run each week. “There are no easy explanations.” A copy of the email was provided to The New York Times on Monday night.

“The Last Ship,” Sting’s debut as a Broadway composer, had been one of the most anticipated new musicals of the 2014-15 theater season, given his talents and high profile as well as its team, including Tony Award-winning director Joe Mantello (“Wicked”) and Mr. Seller, a Tony winner for new musicals like “Rent,” “Avenue Q” and “In the Heights.” While Sting’s score drew strong reviews when the musical opened in October, the show’s book — about the lives of shipbuilders and others in a struggling British town — came in for criticism, and ticket sales never took off.

Sting went to great lengths through the summer and fall to publicize the show, and then took the surprise step in November of announcing that he would join the cast in a supporting role, of the shipyard foreman. He took over the character from the actor Jimmy Nail, a longtime friend of Sting’s who said he was happy to step aside in hopes that Sting’s drawing power could breathe stronger life into the show.