Music

Bruce Springsteen’s Broadway show to become Netflix special

Netflix special to be released on December 15th, the day of final onstage performance

Bruce Springsteen performs during Springsteen on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York, in October 2017. Springsteen’s show will be recorded and released as a Netflix special on December. 15th. Photograph: Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Thu Jul 19 2018 - 06:15

Bruce Springsteen is recording his Broadway show and will release it as a Netflix special December 15th, the day of the production's final onstage performance.

He invited a private audience for two extra performances this week – one Tuesday and one Wednesday – while cameras recorded his performance for the special. Springsteen on Broadway, which has been running at the 948-seat Walter Kerr Theater since October, is a reflective two-hour program in which Springsteen intersperses stripped-down versions of some of his most popular songs with stories about his life adapted from his memoir, Born to Run. He performs the show mostly alone – accompanying himself on piano, guitar and harmonica – but is also joined for a few songs by his wife, Patti Scialfa.

The show has been an enormous financial success, with an average price of about $510 (€438) per ticket; that is the face value – some people pay more to purchase from resellers. As of Sunday, the show had grossed $76 million and had been seen by a total audience of 151,549 people.

Springsteen generally does four or five shows a week ? fewer than the usual eight for most Broadway productions and has taken several weeks off; as of Sunday he had performed the show 160 times.

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The show has been appealing to fans in part because it afforded them a rare opportunity to see one of the US’s most popular recording artists in a venue much smaller than the arenas and stadiums in which he usually performs.

After extending the show three times, Springsteen has said the final performance will be December 15th, at which point he will have done the show 236 times.

The show won very strong reviews from critics, and Springsteen this year was given a special, noncompetitive Tony Award in recognition of the production. He had opted not to vie for any competitive prizes ? he made himself ineligible by declining to invite the 840 Tony voters to see the show.

A well-received television special could make Springsteen one of a handful of EGOT artists – those who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. Springsteen won an Oscar in 1994 for his song from Philadelphia and has won 20 Grammys, so he needs only an Emmy to complete the awards grand slam. – New York Times

NetflixBruce SpringsteenPatti Scialfa