Bruce Springsteen SPRINGSTEEN ON BROADWAY Blu-Ray DVD

Description

Bruce Springsteen Springsteen On Broadway (Blu-Ray) Description:

1. “Springsteen On Broadway” Official Trailer

2. “Springsteen On Broadway”: Bruce Springsteen performs onstage during a special performance of  ‘Springsteen on Broadway’ in front of an audience of Sirius XM subscribers. The intimate, final performance of Bruce Springsteen’s 236-show run at Jujamcyn’s Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway on March 14, 2018 in New York City…

The magic in the night of Bruce Springsteen’s performances before 900-plus fans in a Broadway theater has been magnificently captured in Springsteen On Broadway,Bruce Springsteen shares personal stories from his life and acoustic versions of some of his best-known songs in an intimate one-man show. This stage-to-screen production won a 2019 Emmy for Outstanding Directing of a Variety Special.

Track Listing:

Growin’ Up
My Hometown
My Father’s House
The Wish
Thunder Road
The Promised Land
Born in the U.S.A.
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Tougher Than The Rest
Brilliant Disguise
Long Time Comin’
The Ghost of Tom Joad
The Rising
Dancing In The Dark
Land of Hope and Dreams
Born to Run

Format: Blu-ray (Region Free playable IN ALL Blu Ray Players WORLDWIDE)

Directed by longtime Springsteen videographer Thom Zimny, the streaming version of “Springsteen on Broadway” starts with the Boss arriving on stage, it ends with him leaving it, and it doesn’t appear to skip over a single moment that paying audiences would have seen from inside the Walter Kerr Theatre. If Zimny has cobbled together footage from different nights, it’s impossible to find the cuts. There’s no backstage business, no reflective asides; the whole performance is a reflective aside. High-definition close-ups are your only consolation prize for not being in the room where it happened.

And that’s exactly how it should be: Springsteen’s spare, revealing self-tribute is a profound testament to his gifts as a storyteller, and Zimny has no interest in breaking that spell. He’s not exactly Jonathan Demme, but he gets the job done.

This is the kind of democratization of content that even the most “elitist” of film critics can get behind. “Springsteen on Broadway” enshrines the primacy of the theatrical experience, while still retaining the raw essence of the show’s power at home or on the go (provided that you have a decent pair of headphones). For viewers who couldn’t see the real thing — and most especially for New Yorkers, some of whom work just a few blocks away from the Walter Kerr, but have never been able to go inside its walls — the access is so exciting that the 14-month wait for it seems like a small price to pay. Call it a film, call it a special, call it whatever you wan but “Springsteen on Broadway” is nothing short of a public service.

In a way, this could be construed as a uniquely fitting way to enjoy Springsteen’s most intimate set, or at least to preserve it for posterity. For one thing, the Boss is the ultimate blue-collar hero, and while he was able to pack the Walter Kerr Theatre full of adoring fans every night, it was always strange that he was singing about union cards and open highways to a room full of investment bankers. The Netflix aspect fixes that. For another, watching “Springsteen on Broadway” on a screen of some kind helps expose the artifice that underwrites the whole production.

For two-and-a-half-hours the rock god walks us through the story of his life, first in great detail, and then more nebulously as he goes along; he spends a great long while on formative years, and offers a stray thought at most about his 30s and 40s. Much of this oral history is lifted from Springsteen’s autobiography, but he punctuates the anecdotes with stripped-down renditions of his most personal songs, from the obvious (“Thunder Road”) to the narratively necessary (“Growing Up”). As the show goes on, the songs do more of the talking for him. It all peaks with a soul-stirring version of “Dancing in the Dark” that aches with the yearning and desperation that defines the whole experience.

As the personal details start to accumulate (and then grow a little bit more sparse), it gradually becomes clear that Springsteen isn’t singing about himself. He never was. On Broadway, he’s venerating his legend by dismantling his myth; he’s revealing how he became an icon in order to make us believe in myths of our own. In the grace of our hard work, and in the beauty of high school parking lots. To recognize the value of our dreams, and to appreciate the poetry of their aftertaste. At one point — without naming any names — Springsteen rails against the leaders of today, and reiterates that America is a place where tomorrow is always going to be worth fighting for. His songs might be sung in a nostalgic key, but now it’s easy to hear how the best of them point forward. Some magic tricks are even more impressive when you know how they’re done, watch this one over and over again on the Blu-ray until you figure it out.

Format: Blu-ray (Region Free playable IN ALL Blu Ray Players WORLDWIDE)

TOTAL RUNNING TIME Approximately 2 Hours 36 Minutes

PLEASE NOTE there is no DVD version available of this concert