The Shark Is Broken fans get their city hands on Broadway tickets and meet JAWS show cast

Hooks and lines....

A line of people snaked outside the Golden Theatre, reminiscent of those queuing for the film JAWS when it burst onto cinema screens in June 1975, but this was for JAWS and theater fans to buy tickets for the show about the making of that classic film, The Shark Is Broken.

The Olivier-nominated show, co-written by Ian Shaw, who is the son of JAWS actor Robert Shaw, and Joseph Nixon, charts the often funny and moving story of how Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss were flung together for the extended filming schedule for the Steven Spielberg shark classic.

Ian Shaw, in his Broadway debut, is playing his dad – which to paraphrase Quint his performance is truly incredible – with two-time Tony Award nominee Alex Brightman as Richard Dreyfuss and Colin Donnell as Roy Scheider.

Some eager fans had been waiting in line since 5am that morning to be in chance of getting their city hands on tickets and were even more thrilled when the aforementioned acting trio came out to the New York street to greet them.

One of those was Paulie Christine from Staten Island (although it’s only an island if you look at it from the water) in New York City, who agreed that getting chance to meet the cast, get those all important tickets and some freebies to (bigger) boot was pretty good stuff.

Paulie said: “I arrived to the theater at 6:20 am to find six people already waiting in line the first person got there at 5am!! I was lucky number seven.

“After a while we all bonded about the movie and our excitement of seeing the play and counted how many people got on the line. 12:30 arrives and the cast came out and handed out the shirts, Ian Shaw came in the Quint costume which was the moment of the day!

The cast even borrowed his JAWS licence plate – no, he hadn’t eaten a car and obviously it was less messy than retrieving one from the stomach of a dead tiger shark – for some photos, images of which even ended up in People. Next stop, the National Geographic?

Paulie added: “They took pictures with anyone who asked. I handed my JAWS license plate to Ian, which he loved and took the picture and then with me. Alex and Colin did the same, then it was time to get the tickets.

“As I was walking in to get my tickets, the photographer for the production grabbed me to ask to use the plate for promotional pictures. Again, I was floored and immediately gave them the plate. To watch the cast hold my plate and then make facial reactions to it was unreal.

“When I got home I went on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and started seeing the reels of the videos and there I am in the reels! Two days later I see a post on Instagram of the cast with my plate in People magazine!!

“It was Just an amazing whirlwind of a week and I look forward to July 25, which is opening night, I then have three more performances to go to…so far!”

You can buy your tickets for The Shark Is Broken, here.

Thanks again to Paulie Christine for his time, images and quotes.

Words by Dean Newman

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