Jaws-themed musical BRUCE (Robert Taylor and Richard Oberacker)

There was a private writing workshop in Seattle recently for this show by the BANDSTAND creators. The subject matter isn't something that would naturally leap to my mind for a musical adaptation... but maybe that's a good thing? Points for originality, anyway. I wonder if it'll have a further life. (And if they'll be allowed to incorporate the 'Jaws' film score theme somewhere, heh.)

https://www.seattlerep.org/newplay/the-other-season/current/writing-workshop

"In 1974, a 26-year-old virtually unknown director set out to film the number one best-selling novel of the day. Invading a sleepy fishing island off Cape Cod to shoot on the open ocean, he battled weather, water, hostile locals, an exploding budget, endless delays, and a mechanical star named Bruce that simply refused to work. Out of all this chaos, the world was given its first ever summer blockbuster and the career of Steven Spielberg."

No. It's the nickname Steven Spielberg gave to the mechanical shark they used in filming Jaws.

dramamama611 said: "Now musicals are going to be "how movies are made" instead of bio musicals? What do we call them...'docu-musicals'?"

I think it’s a far more interesting idea than Jaws The Musical which is what they could have done.

This project first got on my radar (...sonar?) due to the below article from April, which calls the show a musical. Of course, it's possible that the article is incorrect on that point, or that the creators have gone in a different direction. Incidentally, according to this article the original film's 'Bruce' was named after Steven Spielberg's lawyer, Bruce Ramer.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/entertainment-columns/kats/mark-ronson-opens-nomads-summer-pool-season-1641054/

Sounds clever. Why not?

Incidentally, the link no longer works (or didn't for me).

Peronista said: "After all the financial loss from this shutdown, do any regional theaters have the resources to be premiering any of the new musicals that were scheduled in the before times? Won't it take at least of season or two to re-build the coffers? Especially for something like this - not exactly a 2- or 3- hander..."

All depends on enhancement agreements or co-productions. Whether the audience is made aware or not, many new musicals at LORT theatres are produced with the aide of commercial producers who have the option to move it. That's become its own obstacle because sometimes these theatres can't afford to do a musical, period, without enhancement. Post-pandemic, the theatres may rely even more on outside financial support if they are planning to develop new work.

Sounds like a fun original idea. And the songs sound fun. The music in the verse of the opening number is a direct steal from "Model Behavior" from Women on the Verge...

BroadwayNYC2 said: "...because there’s a phone? Yazbeck ain’t Alexander Graham Bell"

No. It is a 2 stanza, almost note-for-note copy .

Makes me think of Giant Killer Shark: The Musical, which anyone can listen to here.