Springsteen on Broadway (2018)

On October 3, 2017, Bruce Springsteen (born 1949) opened an eight-week show at Jujamcyn’s Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway in New York City. With nothing but his guitar, harmonica, and a piano, the "Boss" was alone on the stage to tell stories about his life through monologue and song. The production was so wildly popular that it was extended three times after its initial eight-week run. Eventually, it ran for 236 sold out performances, the very last of which was on December 15, 2018. This Netflix Documentary film is a recording of that final performance. “I chose Broadway for this project," says Springsteen, "because it has the beautiful old theaters which seemed like the right setting for what I have in mind. In fact, with one or two exceptions, the 960 seats of the Walter Kerr Theatre is probably the smallest venue I’ve played in the last 40 years. My show is just me, the guitar, the piano and the words and music. Some of the show is spoken, some of it is sung. It loosely follows the arc of my life and my work. All of it together is in pursuit of my constant goal to provide an entertaining evening and to communicate something of value.” Most of us would not or could not go to a live performance in New York City, but thanks to Netflix you can still enjoy an intimate evening with one of the world's greatest cultural icons. The New York Times put it this way: "As portraits of artists go, there may never have been anything as real — and beautiful — on Broadway."

Dan Clendenin: dan@journeywithjesus.net