Bruce Springsteen has announced his return to Broadway in 2021.
Springsteen on Broadway, the acclaimed production that ran for 236 shows at the Walter Kerr Theatre in 2017 and 2018 and was later released as a Netflix special, will open for a run of encore performances at the nearby St. James Theatre this month.
The limited run of 31 performances will begin on June 26th and run through September 4th.
Audience members will be required to show proof of full Covid-19 vaccination along with their tickets to enter the theater. Entry times will be staggered, and attendees will be required to fill out a Covid-19 health screening within 24 hours of the show.
The announcement marks a meaningful step in the return of the performing arts in New York City. While ticketed live events were cleared by the city to resume at limited capacities in April, the scope of full Broadway productions and the audience sizes needed to make them financially sustainable precluded the return of New York’s iconic theater community. Even as restrictions loosened in the ensuing weeks and New York eventually gave the go-ahead to full audiences as long as they are 100% vaccinated, Broadway remained stalled.
In early May, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Broadway League announced that Broadway shows will resume at full capacity on September 14th.
In the meantime, however, a show like Springsteen on Broadway serves as a perfect stopgap. With a fully realized, relatively simple show ready to go, plenty of established demand and buzz, a slew of empty theaters in the area (the St. James was the home of Frozen prior to the pandemic), and promising vaccination numbers, this is exactly the kind of Broadway production that can work this summer.
To view a full list of performances and ticketing info for the Summer 2021 limited run of Bruce Springsteen’s Springsteen on Broadway at the St. James Theatre, head here.
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