Jaws musical 'Bruce' set to surface in Seattle in 2022
JAWS is without question one of the greatest cinematic experiences ever. Making $100million in just 38 days, it also proved to be one of the most financially successful movies of all time (even today when adjusted for inflation). The 1975 movie and it’s sequels have been reborn in many forms including novelisations and one fan even created their own graphic novel with Deputy Hendricks (played by Jeffrey Kramer) taking the lead!
Now the making of Jaws is being reimagined as a musical set to hit Seattle in 2022. Originally slated to debut this year, the play is named after the mechanical shark used during production of Steven Spielberg's 1975 blockbuster (Spielberg also called it the Great White Turd). ‘Bruce’ is an adaptation of screenwriter Carl Gottlieb's The Jaws Log, which chronicles the making of the film.
Jaws screenwriter Carl Gottlieb with his legendary book about the making of Jaws ‘The Jaws Log’
Beaches Closed
Bruce was to open at the Seattle Rep theater before opening at New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse during the 2020-2021 season, sadly the coronavirus pandemic scuppered those plans. Bruce is currently slated to open at Seattle Rep in May of 2022 and is still expected to move to the Paper Mill Playhouse after that. The musical will be directed and choreographed by Stratford Festival’s Donna Feore with music by Richard Oberacker and book & Lyrics by Robert Taylor & Richard Oberacker
The musical was previously described, "Chronicling the making of an iconic movie, Bruce tells the story of then-unknown director Steven Spielberg’s beleaguered film set and the challenges that thwarted his team at every turn, including the film’s star: an uncooperative mechanical shark named Bruce. At its heart, the show proves that when we are faced with hardship and work together as a team, great things can happen.”
Jaws might not seem like the most obvious property to turn into a musical, but with the success of stage play ‘The Shark Is Broken’, a play co-written by and starring Ian Shaw (son of Jaws star Robert) and our own Jaws WeMake, shows audiences still hungry for new interpretations of Jaws and it’s incredible making-of story, nearly half a century later.
