The Boss is coming back to Broadway — and much earlier than expected.
Rocker Bruce Springsteen, whose Broadway show ran for more than a year at the Walter Kerr Theatre in 2017 and 2018, will play Broadway once again beginning June 26 — less than three weeks away.
That imminent start date will almost definitely make “Springsteen on Broadway” the first show to play the Great White Way since theaters were shuttered in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This time, the intimate concert will instead play at the larger St. James Theatre a few blocks away and run through Sept. 4.
Tickets go on sale Thursday, June 10, at noon.
Audience members will have to prove they have been vaccinated to enter — either by their paper card or the New York Excelsior Pass — suggesting that performances will be at 100-percent capacity. It is not yet known if the vaxxed ticket-buyers will have to stay masked up, according to a spokesman.
However, there is precedent for shedding the face coverings at the theater. Closing night of the Tribeca Film Festival, on June 19 at Radio City Music Hall, will be a full-capacity vaccinated crowd and not require masks.
The reopening of Broadway has become something of a free-for-all. Initially, Gov. Cuomo announced that Broadway shows could kick off performances again Sept. 14, and heavy-hitters “Hamilton,” “Wicked” and “The Lion King” said during a celebratory “Good Morning America” appearance that they’d all start up on that day and welcome back audiences to the neighborhood.
Not so fast, Simba. The state’s restrictions have since been eased; a Broadway show could theoretically play to a full-capacity vaccinated crowd tomorrow if it had the means to (most do not). So, “Hadestown,” the 2019 best musical Tony Award winner, announced it would come back Sept. 2. And “Pass Over,” a play from Lincoln Center, said it would begin previews on Broadway Aug. 4. There will probably be even more shakeups in the schedule.
But there is no show with the ability to start earlier than Springsteen can. The small, intermission-less, acoustic performance — which was filmed for Netflix — features only the man himself on a stool with a cameo from his wife, Patricia Scialfa. The couple could rehearse in their Colts Neck, NJ, kitchen.
And the production will have no trouble selling tickets. During its initial run, every performance was sold out, and seats popped up on the secondary market for as much as $6,700.
Since “Springsteen” will likely be the only show on Broadway for months, it will surely be one of the hardest tickets to come by — anywhere.