Sharks swarm New York ahead of JAWS play Broadway debut

A cloud in the shape of increased shark activity across New York comes just a few weeks ahead of the Orca and its crew docking at the Golden Theatre, for the Broadway debut of The Shark Is Broken, about the behind-the-scenes goings on the set of Steven Spielberg’s JAWS.

The sharks that are swimming around New York are far from broken though, in fact with four reported shark encounters with people over the July 4th weekend alone, they are very active.

Thankfully none of the encounters – one at Long Island’s Robert Moses beach, two off of Fire Island and a fourth at Quogue Village beach, a public beach further east on Long Island, towards the Hamptons - were life-threatening and the suspected culprit is a sand tiger shark, a species that has never killed a human, according to experts.

There’s no Bruce the shark featured in the Oliver-nominated show, which begins previews on July 25th, so it is the perfect sanctuary from the beaches and the summer of the shark, but that won’t stop this show drawing you in and swallowing you whole, transporting you back to Martha’s Vineyard, 1974.

It’s quite literally three men in a boat and is an astounding and often hilarious 90 minutes of theatre that practically puts you on board the boat that Quint, Brody and Hooper tried to capture and kill the great white shark that was stalking the beaches of Amity Island.

Although those on stage are dressed like the iconic JAWS characters, this play is about the actors playing them; Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss. And bringing them to life are Robert Shaw’s son, Ian Shaw – who by the end of the show you will swear is Robert Shaw playing Quint. Believe us, you’ll have hair standing on end where you didn’t even think you had hair.

And then we have Colin Donnell treading the planks as Roy Scheider and Alex Brightman as Richard Dreyfuss driving the boat – and each other nuts - let’s just say that at times these three actors got extreme cabin fever and were gonna need a bigger boat.

After wowing audiences at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, London’s West End and then Toronto, the long-awaited Broadway run of The Shark Is Broken surfaces for previews on July 25 and opens on August 10 at the Golden Theatre.

Buy The Shark Is Broken tickets here: thesharkisbroken.com

Words by Dean Newman

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