BEVERLY — Bill Hanney’s award-winning North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT) kicks off the expanded 70th Anniversary 2025 Season with West End and Broadway smash hit play, “The Shark is Broken.”
The original Broadway creative team will reunite for this award-winning, one-act play at NSMT from May 2-11. This new production will then move to Oak Bluffs for a summer run at the Martha’s Vineyard Performing Arts Center.
“‘The Shark is Broken’ is a must-see for fans of the original film, fans of behind-the-scenes movie-making stories, and anyone who loves a great comic play,” said Hanney, NSMT’s owner and producer. “As someone who made his start in the movie theater business, and as an enormous fan of the 1975 film ‘Jaws,’ I jumped at the chance to be one for the producers of the Broadway production in 2023.
“I am very excited to be bringing together most of the original Broadway creative team to stage this one-act play for our audiences at NSMT and then having the opportunity to move it to Martha’s Vineyard, where the original film was shot 50 years ago!”
The play dives deep into the tumultuous, murky waters of the making of a major motion picture with testy, feuding costars, unpredictable weather, and a shark prop whose constant breakdowns are looking like an omen for the future of the movie.
In this comedy co-written by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon, the short tempers of “Jaws” stars Robert Shaw (Ian Shaw’s father), Richard Dreyfuss, and Roy Scheider take center stage as they bond, argue, drink, gamble, and pray for an end to the shoot, not knowing it will change their lives forever.
The cast will be Timothy W. Hull as Robert Shaw, Jonathan Randell Silver as Richard Dreyfuss, and Josh Tyson as Roy Scheider. The understudies will be Kevin Loreque for Robert Shaw and Roy Scheider and Jacob Louchheim for Richard Dreyfuss.
Several of the original Broadway and West End creative team member will be on this new production’s creative team, which includes:
- Guy Masterson (Director – Broadway/West End)
- Duncan Henderson (Scenic Design – Broadway/West End)
- Rebecca Glick (Costume Coordinator & Additional Costume Design)
- Jeff Greenberg (Lighting Design)
- Adam Cork (Sound Design And Original Music – Broadway/West End)
- Alex Berg (Additional Sound Design)
- Arthur Atkinson (Production Stage Manager)
- Dakotah Wiley Horan (Assistant Stage Manager).
The play is produced for NSMT by Hanney (Owner/Producer), Kevin P. Hill (Producing Artistic Director), David Elliott (Executive Producer), and Matthew Chappell (Associate Producer / Casting Director). The play is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service.
Tickets are $45-$65. Evening performances on Friday and Saturday are at 8 p.m., and matinees Saturday and Sunday are at 2 p.m. Group discounts are available for purchases of 10 or more tickets. Kids 4-18 save 50% at all performances. Student Rush tickets for $25 are available at all performances. For tickets and information call 978-232-7200, visit www.nsmt.org, or visit the box office in person at 54 Dunham Road, Beverly.
The 2025 mainstage season will continue with “Waitress” (June 3-15), “The Wizard Of Oz” (July 8-20), “Grease” (Aug. 12-24), “Rent” (Sept. 16-28), “The Cher Show” (Oct. 21-Nov. 2), and will conclude with the annual production of “A Christmas Carol” (Dec. 4-21). Children’s Shows will include “How I Became a Pirate & Seussical Kids” (April 12 and 13), “Beetlejuice, Jr.” (April 12 and 13), “Finding Nemo, Jr.” (July 25 and 26), and “Footloose: School Edition” (Aug. 22).
Since opening in 1955, NSMT has become one of the most attended theatres in New England, with approximately 250,000 patrons annually. With a national and regional reputation for artistic achievement, NSMT has received numerous industry awards including Elliot Norton Awards, IRNE Awards, the Rosetta Le Noire Award from Actors’ Equity, and the Moss Hart Award. NSMT produced the World Premiere of “Memphis” in 2003, the show went on to win four 2010 Tony Awards including Best Musical. Under the new ownership of Bill Hanney since 2010, NSMT continues to annually produce a musical subscription series and an annual production of “A Christmas Carol” along with celebrity concerts, children’s programming and year-round education classes for children and adults.
