Vegas team prepping ‘Jaws’-themed musical for Broadway

Cue the theme music. The story behind “Jaws” is lurching toward a run on Broadway, and a Las Vegas writing team is charting its path.

“Bruce,” written by Vegas writing partners Richard Oberacker and Robert Taylor, is opening its preview performances May 27 at Seattle Rep’s Bagley Wright Theater. The world premiere June 8, with the musical closing June 26.

“Bruce” was the unofficial name of problematic mechanical shark used in Steven Spielberg’s epic suspense film (the creature was actually named for Spielberg’s attorney Bruce Ranner). The musical is adapted from “The Jaws Log,” a 1975 nonfiction book written by “Jaws” co-screenwriter Carl Gottleib. Jarrod Spector has been cast as the young Spielberg. In 2014, Spector was nominated for a Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.”

The plan has been to move the project to Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, N.J. “Assuming it doesn’t suck, then we’ll take it to New York,” Oberacker says.

Oberacker has been performing numbers from “Bruce” at the Composers Showcase of Las Vegas for about 3 1/2 years. He had the idea for “Bruce” more than two decades ago, during an anniversary release of “Jaws” on DVD.

“I liked that ‘Bruce’ was what had to be tamed, in the original novel and in the film,” says Oberacker, who is also music director of Cirque’s “Ka” at MGM Grand “It’s the single, giant obstacle that has to be defeated. This mechanical shark is Spielberg’s nemesis during the making of the film, but it is also his collaborator. ‘Bruce’ determined what could and couldn’t be shot, and when and how the movie progressed.”

Beyond that premise, Oberacker says, “This is a story about how a 26-year-old unknown looked at a project, and said, ‘I am going to do this,’ even when he didn’t have the cast he wanted and the weather, the schedule, and even the title character keeps breaking down.”

Oberacker and Taylor most recently staged “The Sandman” at Majestic Repertory Theatre in the Arts District. The team has shown a penchant for bringing shows to Broadway. They co-wrote “Bandstand,” which ran for 166 performances at Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre before closing in September 2017.

Currently, the duo is also showcasing “Angel of Arkansas,” most recently in January at Notoriety Live. That musical is based on the life of Ruth Coker Burks, who rose to prominence in the mid-1980s during the AIDS/HIV epidemic. Burks was a caregiver, advocate, activist, pharmacist and undertaker to thousands of young men at the peak of the AIDS crisis.

“Bruce,” meantime, is getting its shot at Broadway beginning this spring.

“A lot of artists are responding to what has been a really hard last two years, with some art that it very challenging and very inspired,” Oberacker says. “What is wonderful about “Bruce” is it happens to speak to that time, coincidentally. It addresses the moment where we all have to go through challenges, how over hover come odds to make something great.”

Cool Hang Alert

Al Sapienza has slalomed from playing “Ringo” in the musical “Beatlemania” to “The Sopranos” (cast as Mikey Palmice), to “House of Cards” (Marty Spinella) to a role as the late boxing trainer and broadcaster Gil Clancy in the upcoming George Foreman biopic, “Heart Of A Lion.” Deborah Rennard portrayed the secretary Sly Lovegren in “Dallas” for all 10 seasons on CBS, and was also cast on the daytime drama “Days of Our Lives,” and has sung on Broadway.

Why are Sapienza and Rennard a Cool Hang? The performing duo are performing “Soundtrack To Our Lives” at 7 p.m. Friday at Myron’s at the Smith Center. I’ve caught the couple before in an impromptu set at Italian American Club’s lounge, and they are classically entertaining.

“We love to sing, and we’ll be showing videos and slides of the events of our lives and the songs that have become classics,” Sapienza says. “We’ll go through all of the ’60s and ’70s, singing our favorite songs and talking about why they are our favorites.” Tickets are $39-$59 (not including fees), click to smithcenter.com for details.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.