Bruce Springsteen helps reopen Broadway with revival of Tony-winning one-man show (photo by Rob DeMartin)
SPRINGSTEEN ON BROADWAY
St. James Theatre
246 West 44th Street between Broadway & Eighth Ave.
Tuesday – Friday/Saturday through September 4, $75-$850 (Lucky Seat lottery four days before each show)
www.jujamcyn.com
brucespringsteen.net/broadway
On the afternoon of September 11, 2001, Bruce Springsteen was driving in Sea Bright, New Jersey, smoke from the fallen Twin Towers visible in the distance, when an unidentified man pulled up alongside him and called out, “We need you, Bruce.” He responded with The Rising, a 2002 record that intelligently explored personal and communal loss, celebrated heroes, and looked to a brighter future. This spring, amid debates about how and when Broadway would reopen following the long pandemic lockdown, Jujamycyn president and Boss fan Jordan Roth contacted Bruce and asked if he would revive his intimate one-man show, Springsteen on Broadway, for a limited run over the summer. Broadway needed him. The musician and author responded with a slightly reconfigured update of the show, which had been awarded a special Tony for a “once-in-a-lifetime theatergoing experience”; in his acceptance speech, Springsteen said, “This is deeply appreciated. Thank you for making me feel so welcome on the block. Being part of the Broadway community has been a great thrill and an honor and one of the most exciting things I have ever experienced.”
The 140-minute show has moved from the 975-seat Walter Kerr to the St. James, which has nearly double the capacity at 1,710. I caught Springsteen on Broadway twice in its original form, each show somewhat different, with Bruce’s wife, Patti Scialfa, appearing at one of them, which alters the setlist. For this revival, Springsteen has made several key changes, from one of the songs he sings with Patti, which he had hoped Elvis Presley would record (the King died before hearing it), to the finale, a tune from his latest album, Letter to You, a bittersweet eulogy to lost friends, relatives, and E Street Band members that feels even more appropriate given the suffering of the last sixteen months.
Bruce Springsteen shifts between guitar and piano in slightly revamped revival (photo by Rob DeMartin)
Inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests over racial injustice, Springsteen has also added “American Skin (41 Shots),” his 2001 song about the police killing of unarmed Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo in New York City in 1999. When I saw Bruce and the E Street Band perform the song at Shea Stadium in October 2003, numerous people in the crowd, as well as police officers and some security staff, stood and turned their back to the stage. There were no such protests at the St. James (although there were a handful of anti-vaxxers outside the theater on opening night calling the show discriminatory because all attendees had to be vaccinated).
This time around, Springsteen on Broadway, which is adapted from his bestselling 2016 memoir, Born to Run, is a much more emotional affair. The night I saw it, July 6, Bruce had to pause and wipe away tears at least four times; there was weeping throughout the theater as well. Springsteen spoke poignantly about Walter and Raymond Cichon from the 1960s Jersey Shore band the Motifs, Walter going to Vietnam and never coming home; his working-class father, who struggled with mental illness and often hid behind alcohol; late E Streeters Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici; and, most heartrending, his beloved mother, Adele, who is now ten years into dementia but, Bruce shared, still recognizes him when he sees her and perks up when she hears music. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Bruce, at the piano, sang, “If Pa’s eyes were windows into a world so deadly and true / You couldn’t stop me from looking but you kept me from crawlin’ through / It’s a funny old world, Ma, where a little boy’s wishes come true / Well, I got a few in my pocket and a special one just for you.” The story evoked the heartbreak of so many who were unable to visit their elderly parents in nursing homes during the crisis, saying farewell via cellphone if at all.
As tender and stirring as those moments were, Bruce also injects plenty of humor, mostly of the self-deprecating type, particularly about his November 2020 arrest for drunken and reckless driving. “I had to go to Zoom court,” he says. “My case was the United States of America vs. Bruce Springsteen. That’s always comforting to hear, that the entire nation is aligned against you.” The charges were later dismissed, but the police theme is a playful new thread in the narrative.
Once again, in New York City’s time of need, Springsteen has responded, helping us deal with a devastating health crisis that has so far claimed more than 610,000 American lives, even as a deadly variant makes its way through the country at this very moment. It’s the right show at the right time, with only two cast members, no set changes, and Bruce’s trusted guitar tech (Kevin Buell). All ticket holders must provide proof of vaccination in order to enter the theater. When I saw the show, masks were optional, and very few wore them, but masks are now required for everyone. Springsteen has taken a few weeks off while his daughter, Jessica, competes in equestrian jumping at the Tokyo Olympics (winning a team silver medal), but he and Patti will be back August 17 for the last run of performances, lighting up what has been a dark, empty Broadway. Bruce has responded yet again when New York City called.