The Shark Is Broken, the Olivier Award-nominated stage comedy that goes behind-the-scenes of Jaws, will arrive on Broadway this summer with co-writer Ian Shaw playing his father Robert Shaw, who starred as shark-hunter Quint in the 1975 classic.
Directed by Guy Masterson, The Shark Is Broken will begin a limited 16-week engagement on Tuesday, July 25, at the John Golden Theatre, with an official opening on Thursday, August 10. The Broadway production was announced today by producers Sonia Friedman Productions and Scott Landis.
The play, which premiered at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and, following the Covid pandemic shutdown, transferred to the West End’s Ambassadors Theatre in 2021, is co-written by Shaw and Joseph Nixon, and imagines what happened on board “The Orca” when the cameras stopped rolling during the filming of Stephen Spielberg’s blockbuster.
War Horse actor Shaw will be making his Broadway debut with The Shark Is Broken. Casting for the roles of Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss will be announced at a later date.
The play’s creative team includes Duncan Henderson (scenic and costume design), Jon Clark (lighting design), Adam Cork (sound design and original music) and Nina Dunn (video design).
The Shark Is Broken is unrelated to Bruce, the stage musical based on The Jaws Log, a 1975 behind-the-scenes account of the film by Jaws co-screenwriter Carl Gottlieb. Bruce received its world premiere at Seattle Rep last year.