We’re introducing a new series called Broadway Is Back. This series will help introduce (and in some cases re-introduce) you to the shows that will be opening on Broadway in the weeks and months ahead. What better place to start than with Springsteen on Broadway, which is now playing at the St. James Theatre.
The show is a live version of his autobiography, Born to Run, which came out in 2016. Springsteen debunks certain myths about himself, shares stories about his upbringing in New Jersey and shares intimate performances of many of the songs that have made him one of the best-selling rock artists of all time.
His wife, Patti Scialfa, joins him for the show. If the original Broadway run is any indication, she won’t be at every performance. That means there will be a slight variation in those shows in which she doesn’t appear.
Perhaps you saw Springsteen on Broadway on Netflix. Or you saw the show in its previous run from October 2017 to December 2018 at the Walter Kerr Theatre.
If so, there have been some changes to the show. First is the venue. The show has moved from a theater seating 975 to one that seats 1,710 people.
Some songs have gone and others have replaced them. A lot has happened in the over two years since the show closed and Springsteen, one of the best commentators about life, has modified his special Tony Award-winning show to address those changes.
If you are expecting a raucous show, this isn’t it. (Well, Springsteen fans are passionate.) And his most famous song, the one that serves as the title of his autobiography, has been cut from the show.
Jon Landau, Springsteen’s manager, recently told Backstreets Springsteen’s reasoning for eliminating Born to Run from the show:
“The original show did not have an encore. Bruce didn’t leave the stage; there was no encore structure to it: the audience applauds… the artist comes back in response… encore. I thought, well, maybe we’ll do that here. Because Born to Run is Born to Run, this time we could structure it as an encore: we could end with I’ll See You in My Dreams, and in a more typical fashion, Bruce would then go off and come back and do Born to Run as an encore.
“And he said to me, ‘No.’ He said, ‘I’ll See You in My Dreams, that’s the end of the story. That’s the end of the story that I’m telling this time.’ And when you see the show, you will see that he was so right. So he set aside Born to Run altogether.”
I attended two performances of Springsteen on Broadway during its initial run. Each show, though sharing common materials and a fairly entrenched set list, were very different. I’ll be attending again in late August to see this new iteration and to welcome Broadway back.
Springsteen on Broadway runs through September 4th only. Tickets can be purchased here. There is a lottery for $75 tickets. To enter that lottery, go here.
Photo by Rob DeMartin/Courtesy Springsteen on Broadway
