On Broadway, Denzel Washington is the man — the man with the Midas touch. Washington, who’s favored to win a Tony tonight for his acclaimed performance in the revival of August Wilson’s “Fences,” is Broadway’s top box office draw this year, according to an informal survey of producers, theater owners and ticket brokers.
Yardsticks used to measure a performer’s appeal include the size of the advance ticket sale on opening night, as well as weekly gross box office receipts. Another factor is the time it takes for the show to earn back its investment. Intensity of buzz and excitement generated by the star are also important, as is the demand for tickets on the scalper market.
Washington rolled the table on all fronts. Here are the top six.
1. Denzel Washington,
“Fences”
Winner of the 1986 Pulitzer, “Fences” opened at the Cort Theatre in April with almost $5 million in the bank, an impressive figure for a non-musical play. It grosses more than $1 million a week and returned its $3.8 million investment in just two months. Officially, the top ticket price is $325, but ticket brokers say scalpers are getting as much as $600 for orchestra seats.
“It’s the only show that’s worth anything on the secondary market right now,” says a top ticket broker. “And it’s all because of Denzel Washington.”
The limited-run production closes July 11. Theater sources estimate that the profit will be more than $4.5 million.
“Fences” received rave reviews. But Washington is a box office draw even when the critics are throwing tomatoes at him. He took a drubbing as Brutus in an appalling production of “Julius Caesar” in 2005. But the run was sold out and the show made a $2 million profit.
2. Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman, “A Steady Rain”
Right behind Washington is this double act, which headlined the cop cop drama “A Steady Rain” lats fall. The hype was huge — and so was the advance ticket sale, which hit $10 million by opening night. The play, however, turned out to be a dreary slog. By the time the limited run ended, the excitement had evaporated. Ticket brokers say demand also went cold.
“I controlled a lot of good seats,” says a broker, “but after the reviews came out, you couldn’t get all that much for them. I did OK, but it wasn’t ‘Fences.’”
Still, the show made a $5 million profit.
It’s unclear if Craig would be such a big draw on his own. But there are no doubts about Jackman. A few years ago he turned a klutzy musical called “The Boy From Oz,” in which he played swishy singer-songwriter Peter Allen, into a million-dollar-a-week phenomenon.
3. Nathan Lane, “The Addams Family”
Second only to Jackman as the musical theater’s most sought-after leading man is Lane, currently slogging it out in this God-awful TV-sitcom retread.
The show opened to poor reviews in Chicago last December, but with “Producers” star Lane above the brand-name title, the advance on Broadway hit $15 million. Critics savaged the production, though many praised Lane for his ability to get a laugh out of even the hoariest jokes. He was, say his friends, rattled by the attacks. But he soldiers on, doing plenty of publicity for the show.
If it pays back — and that, at this point, is by no means certain — it will be because of his efforts and audience appeal.
As one producer says: “That show is nothing, absolutely nothing, without Nathan.”
4. Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson, “A View From the Bridge”
Schreiber and Johansson were big draws this year in this acclaimed Arthur Miller revival. Schreiber is a reliable performer who’s always popular with critics and audiences (“Glengarry Glen Ross,” “Talk Radio”).
The revelation was Johansson.
“She could have been on of those movies stars who can’t cut it on a Broadway stage,” one producer says. “But she was terrific, and people wanted to see her.”
The advance wasn’t huge for the show, but once the critics raved — and word of mouth took off — the limited run quickly sold out. The profit, sources say, was about $3 million.
5. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury, “A Little Night Music”
Zeta-Jones is another movie star who, in the theater, can do the job and bring in the customers. As the glamorous stage actress Desiree Armfeldt, she’s helped turn this revival of Stephen Sondheim’s musical into one of the few musical hits this season. The $5.5 million production is expected to return its investment in the next few weeks.
She’s sharing the stage with the great Angela Lansbury, who, at 84, has been a Broadway box office draw for nearly 45 years, starting with “Mame” in 1966.
An investor in “A Little Night Music” says that while Zeta-Jones “has been great for us, there is no question that just as many people are coming to see Angela as well.”
6. Jude Law, “Hamlet”
Jude Law rounds out the list of box office champs this year. He proved his clout last fall in boring revival of “Hamlet,” which despite mixed reviews managed to gross nearly $1 million a week and turn a profit of almost $3 million.
Producers would love to see him back on Broadway, though as one says, “No more Shakespeare — please!”