Hours after Springsteen show closes, film drops on Netflix

To director Thom Zimny, the key element in his filmed version of Bruce Springsteen’s Broadway show was in the star’s eyes.

The Netflix documentary makes its first appearance on the service early in the morning of Dec. 16, hours after the singer’s 236th and last performance of “Springsteen on Broadway” at the Walter Kerr Theater. A soundtrack is being released Friday.

“I wanted to capture Bruce’s eyes in a way that you don’t get from being in the theater,” he said. “It’s another sense of intimacy, another sense of the performance.”

That focus paid off when cameras caught Springsteen’s emotion during an introduction to the song “Long Walk Home,” telling of an unexpected visit by his father just before Springsteen’s first child was born. His dad said he hadn’t been the best of fathers and hoped his son would do better. Anyone familiar with Springsteen’s music knows the import of that acknowledgment.

Those are the moments, subtle enough to be missed by most of the live audience, that Zimny feels makes the “Springsteen on Broadway” film unique from the “Springsteen on Broadway” show. Another was the look of loving remembrance on Springsteen’s face when he played piano and talked about his late band member Clarence Clemons, one he didn’t see until reviewing tape later.

Zimny wasn’t simply called in to tape a show near the end of its run. The filmmaker has a history with Springsteen and manager Jon Landau that includes a 2001 documentary with the singer and his E Street Band performing in New York. He was brought into the project while it was still in rehearsals.

“I’ve seen the show so many times I’ve lost count,” he said. If not in the audience, he watched video and listened to audio tapes, to keep up with how the performance tightened and changed throughout the run.