On Sunday, October 30 at 3 p.m., Jaws, the original summer blockbuster film with the Academy Award-winning score by John Williams, will be performed at State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick by New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

Directed by Academy Award-winner Steven Spielberg, Jaws set the standard for edge-of-your-seat suspense, quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon that forever changed the movie industry.

Interestingly, the book that inspired the film has a direct connection to Princeton in  writer Peter Benchley. Benchley wrote the bestselling novel Jaws and co-wrote its film adaptation with Carl Gottlieb. Prior to the publication of Jaws, Benchley was a struggling writer who relied on freelance jobs to pay the bills. He got his big break in Jaws, which was published in 1974 and remained on the bestseller list for 44 weeks. Spielberg’s film was released in 1975 and the movie executives at the time specifically scheduled it to hit theaters in the summer. In the film, Benchley makes a cameo appearance as a news reporter on the beach.

In both versions, the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark. The town’s chief of police and a young marine biologist join forces with a grizzled shark hunter on a desperate quest to destroy the shark before it strikes again. Featuring a masterful score that exudes suspense and terror, it’s a musical experience for any thrill seeker. In the famous words of Chief Brody, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat!”

Purchase tickets at https://www.stnj.org/event/jaws-new-jersey-symphony.