On Stage Was Springsteen, in the Audience, Chris Christie

NEW YORK — Three Jersey boys packed into Walter Kerr Theater in Times Square Wednesday night: a rock star, a former governor (as of Tuesday) and this reporter. What follows is what I saw, with apologies to Bruce Springsteen purists.

Posted 6:35 p.m. Jan 18, 2018 — Updated 6:35 p.m. Jan 18, 2018

By

NICK CORASANITI

, New York Times

NEW YORK — Three Jersey boys packed into Walter Kerr Theater in Times Square Wednesday night: a rock star, a former governor (as of Tuesday) and this reporter. What follows is what I saw, with apologies to Bruce Springsteen purists.

Well they kicked the old governor out of Trenton last night. Kicked him out of the mansion, too. But down on Broadway, he was getting ready for a night. Seems like the Boss can carry him through.

He drove in on his own from out of state; no troopers or cops for relief. There were a few who noticed him slink in tonight, and none who wanted to give him any grief.

Every term ends, Jersey. That’s a fact. And after two terms, you just can’t come back. So he put that gray sweater on and came into the city. On stage was Springsteen, in the audience Chris Christie.

Since before he entered public life, Christie, a Republican, has idolized his local hero, Springsteen, but the love has often been one-sided. Though they have no ties that bind them beyond a shared home state, they both were, at least at one time, the pre-eminent icons of working-life Jersey, and two of its most famous citizens.

Now, one is fetching many hundreds of dollars per seat on Broadway, wrote a critically acclaimed memoir and shows no signs of slowing down. The other has just ended eight years as governor of New Jersey, following a failed push for the presidency and has a murky future.

But on Wednesday, Christie spent his first night out as a private citizen at the tiny Walter Kerr Theater to catch Springsteen cut his own boogaloo on Broadway. The lights dimmed at 8 p.m., and Christie bought a drink and found a seat in a corner off in the dark.

He had a job, and tried to put his money away, but for these close up seats, he found the cash to pay. But the Boss made no notice, no mention at all. He ran through the show to the curtain call.

Every term ends, Jersey. That’s a fact. And after two terms, you just can’t come back. So he crossed that big river and came into the city. On stage was Springsteen, in the audience Chris Christie.

They never quite saw eye to eye, but the two men had a brief détente following Hurricane Sandy, when Christie was at the apex of his popularity. A sign of how far he’d come and how high he’d climbed, Christie told reporters that the two men had hugged and that “we’re friends” after a hurricane relief telethon in 2013.

But Christie soon began to stumble. There was the battle over public pensions in which unions accused him of feeling no pain. His allies shut down the George Washington Bridge, charged with doing things he can’t explain.

Springsteen even mocked him on a late-night show, in a song set to the tune of “Born to Run,” singing: “They shut down the tollbooths of glory ‘cause we didn’t endorse Christie.”

Christie’s subsequent endorsement of President Donald Trump in 2016, whom Springsteen called a “con man” in a protest song, likely dashed any hope of another embrace, either with Springsteen or with many of his constituents.

Now his luck may have died and his home state love gone cold, but in New Jersey, for now he’ll stay. Unless he hears the call of a White House role, then it’s off to D.C. as soon as he’s told.

Every term ends, Jersey. That’s a fact. And after two terms, you just can’t come back. So he crossed that big river and came into the city. On stage was Springsteen, in the audience Chris Christie.

He’s been weighing a few jobs, and they shouldn’t be hard to find. He’s got law firms, cable news and some bankers getting in line. But his radio show possibility went nowhere and his book deal dimmed; maybe his old friend President Trump could do a little favor for him.

Every term ends, Jersey. That’s a fact. And after two terms, you just can’t come back. So he crossed that big river and came into the city. On stage was Springsteen, in the audience Chris Christie.

On Wednesday, there was no need to rehash the glory days, or the battle outside that’s still raging across that Jersey state line. At the end of the show, Christie stood and applauded, his second-row seat now just feet from his idol making his way down the frown row.

But he didn’t reach out his hand for a post-show clasp. Instead he moved out with the crowd, proclaiming it a “great show” as some cameras focused on him outside. He smiled, said it was a “good first night out” and headed to his SUV.

And the car door slammed.

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