‘Jaws’ fans will eat up ‘The Shark is Broken’ in Beverly

In what may be a first for this particular local institution, “The Shark is Broken” at North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly is not, in fact, a musical. But it does begin with music: John Williams’ iconic “Jaws” theme, which starts out in all its foreboding glory before petering out and grinding to a halt, like it was being played on an old Victrola thrown overboard.

It’s the perfect setup for Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon’s one-act comedy about what happens when three actors — two of them wildly opposite and possibly unhinged, the other desperately trying to keep the peace — get stuck on a small boat for hours, days, and eventually weeks while waiting for technicians to fix the real star of the movie they’re trying to film.

If you’re not aware that the star in question is Bruce, the mechanical shark that famously failed to function during the filming of “Jaws” on Martha’s Vineyard in 1974, “The Shark is Broken” may not be for you — this is a play for people with that classic movie ingrained into their popular culture DNA. 

But if Steven Spielberg’s film is part of your cinematic vocabulary — as it no doubt was for the audience members wearing “Jaws” shirts and hats to the opening night performance in Beverly Friday — you’re in for a huge treat. (At least as big as that Kintner boy.)

Playwright Ian Shaw is of course the son of Robert Shaw, who played Quint in the movie and who makes up one-third of the play’s characters. Ian Shaw played his dad in early versions of the play in the UK and in the 2023 Broadway production, but here the mantle is taken up by Timothy W. Hull, who more than captures Robert Shaw’s notoriously mercurial personality — not to mention the Quint character’s twisted gravitas during a rare but key scene of them actually filming, rather than just waiting around.

Josh Tyson as Roy Scheider is equally adept at capturing the original actor’s essence. The first character on stage, his resemblance to Scheider is immediately striking, in particular his bearing if not his facial features. And even if his voice isn’t identical to the actor’s clipped Jersey cadence, Tyson’s humanistic portrayal of Scheider as a fundamentally decent man trying to keep the peace until he’s overwhelmed by the chaos around him rings recognizably true. 

It’s Jonathan Randell Silver’s performance as Richard Dreyfuss, though, that is the most revelatory, going beyond impression into absolute embodiment. It’s not an exaggeration to say that you feel like you’re watching the real Dreyfuss at age 32, the original actor’s familiar on-screen persona seamlessly bleeding into the Dreyfuss character’s complicated blend of cockiness and at times paralyzing self-doubt.

“The Shark is Broken” wastes no time placing you with the three men on board the Quint character’s tiny vessel, of “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” fame. (“I nailed it!” the Scheider character says at one point of the soon-to-be-famous line.) Duncan Henderson’s set is perfect, evoking the real boat implanted in our memories while also accentuating what must have been its increasingly claustrophobic confines. (Director Guy Masterson smartly splits NSMT’s famous arena stage in half to accommodate the show’s proscenium setup, which really allows the set to loom large as an essential fourth character.)

Jeff Greenberg’s exquisite lighting, meanwhile, coupled at times with Adam Cork and Alex Berg’s interesting if subdued sound design, captures the unpredictability and even the beauty of the ocean setting.

The show makes no bones about the characters’ opinion about their location, though: “I hate New England!,” Dreyfuss shouts in an early rant about being trapped on an island among a sea of clam chowder and local yokels, who Shaw suggests may be the product of inbreeding. (We can only imagine how those lines will go over when the play moves to Martha’s Vineyard Performing Arts Center after its NSMT run.)

The writing is consistently sharp and always amusing even when it’s not laugh-out-loud funny, although the script probably mines a few too many easy laughs from jokes in the “nobody will remember this movie in 50 years” vein. (But we DO remember, we’re seeing a play about it right now! Get it?) And there’s some commentary on Richard Nixon that seems so currently topical that you can’t help but wonder if was shoehorned in during the last 100 days, give or take.

More resonant are the scenes that get into the personalities and conflicts among the three very different men. Shaw, a functioning (except when he’s not) alcoholic, must have been a nightmare to work with, although Dreyfuss, with his self-loathing and panic always rippling just below the surface, was probably no picnic either, as funny as their interplay is to those of us who didn’t have to perform alongside them. Tyson, meanwhile, shines in a great, wordless solo scene where we see the usually unflappable Scheider  grappling with the frustration of the situation he’s found himself in. (We also see him shirtless — he’s so ripped that a woman in my row actually gasped.) 

As the play progresses we learn about the characters’ disparate backgrounds and the things they’re surprised to have in common — not the least of them being some serious daddy issues. But while a debate about what the film they’re making is actually about is the subject of a particularly boisterous discussion toward the end of the play — ”It’s about a shark!” declares Shaw, refusing to have any part of Dreyfuss’s highfalutin analysis — the play’s about much more.

In fact, “The Shark is Broken” succeeds as a backstage comedy, a dissection of masculinity, a trenchant character study, and a winking look-back at an industry that was about to change drastically and irrevocably. And with its clear affection for its subject matter, it’s also about the best way I can think of to mark the 50th anniversary of “Jaws” — even better than watching the movie itself! Although you’re going to want to do that right after.

“The Shark is Broken” plays at North Shore Music Theatre, 62 Dunham Road, Beverly, through May 11. Run time is 95 minutes, with no intermission.

Peter Chianca

General Assignment Editor

Peter Chianca, Boston.com’s general assignment editor since 2019, is a longtime news editor, columnist, and music writer in the Greater Boston area.