It's Shark Week at BTS: Review of Broadway's 'The Shark is Broken'

The set of "The Shark is Broken" on its opening night on Broadway

It's shark week, my friends, at BTS.

Like Discovery Channel's shark-themed week in July, we at Barb's Tea Service are carving up some time this month to devote to this amazing big fish. Our inspiration:   "The Shark is Broken",  a play we saw on its opening night on Broadway last month.

Accompanied by our NY family, getting ready to see the story of behind-the-scenes of "Jaws"

"The Shark is Broken" is based on the experience of the three main actors - Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw - during the filming of "Jaws". Stuck daily for hours, over a span of nine weeks-plus, on a boat just off the shores of Martha's Vineyard, the three men battle fatigue, egos, boredom and each other while they wait for the big star of the movie, the mechanical shark, to be repaired. It's also a story about the bonds of father and sons: the sometimes-complicated relationship between grand expectations and being all too human. And, Ian Shaw, the play's co-author and featured actor, knows that story intimately. He's the son and striking look-alike of English actor/writer Robert Shaw.  

Celebrating BTS Shark Week with Shark is Broken souvenirs and shark steeper

An experience familiar to many fellow Boomers, I encountered "Jaws" in high school, first the Peter Benchley novel and, soon after, Spielberg's blockbuster movie adaptation.  Incredibly, almost fifty years later, it continues to play a major role in pop culture. When we hear someone hum the familiar opening back-and-forth notes of John William's movie score, we know trouble is brewing.

It also gave us the perfect phrase for when we've underestimated a project.

So, to get a  "peek behind the curtain" is a real treat for those of us who know the movie. "The Shark is Broken" tells us that, perhaps, the biggest drama of "Jaws" took place off-screen. 

And, now to tea. My plan was to steep some newly gifted tea in my recently purchased shark-shaped steeper. Alas, today I require more of the tea blend than originally thought.

I'm gonna need a bigger teapot.