Springsteen Signs Up for More Time on Broadway

Bruce Springsteen is staying on Broadway.

Springsteen on Wednesday announced a third extension of his sold-out show, “Springsteen on Broadway,” to Dec. 15.

The production, which features Springsteen telling stories about his life and delivering stripped-down arrangements of his songs, has been an enormous commercial success, bringing in $44 million thus far at the box office.

The average ticket price last week was a whopping $507.60; by comparison, the average price for “The Lion King” was $149.27. (Those are prices paid to the box office — some people spend more buying from resellers.)

Even critics liked it. “As portraits of artists go,” Jesse Green wrote in The New York Times, “there may never have been anything as real — and beautiful — on Broadway.”

Springsteen, on stage alone at the 948-seat Walter Kerr Theater, has generally been doing five shows a week, and he has taken some weeks off. (His wife Patti Scialfa joins him for a few songs.) He began performances last Oct. 3 and opened Oct. 12, with an initial planned closing date of last Nov. 26. He extended to Feb. 3, and then to June 30, and now to Dec. 15.

Springsteen said on Twitter that this will be the show’s final extension. Tickets will only be available to those who had earlier registered to buy them, but were not successful.

This extension will inevitably revive conversations about whether the show should be considered for Tony Awards, which recognize plays and musicals on Broadway.

Springsteen’s producers — his longtime manager Jon Landau and his longtime road manager George Travis — have thus far chosen not to invite Tony voters to his show, which automatically makes it ineligible for competitive awards.

There are about 840 Tony voters, and to compete shows must give each of them free admission; it is not clear whether inviting them now would satisfy the Tony rules, which say the invitations are supposed to be for performances within 16 weeks of the opening.

If the show does not compete, it is widely expected that the awards administrators will opt to give Springsteen a noncompetitive, honorary prize for his work.