Both developments are, in part, Hollywood related.
Three plays featuring film, television and comedy stars — “Good Night, and Good Luck,” starring Clooney; “Othello,” starring Washington and Gyllenhaal; and “Glengarry Glen Ross,” starring Kieran Culkin, Bill Burr and Bob Odenkirk — are accounting for more than 20 percent of Broadway’s weekly box office this spring, even though they make up just 7 percent of the shows.
They are doing that without a ton of critical support, and none of them was nominated for best play or best play revival. But each has just become profitable — a rare feat on Broadway. “Glengarry Glen Ross” has recouped its capitalization costs of up to $7.5 million; “Othello,” up to $9 million; and “Good Night, and Good Luck,” $9.5 million.
40 SHOWS ARE RUNNING!
3 PLAYS ARE DOMINATING!
One-fifth of Broadway grosses are now going to just three plays: “Good Night, and Good Luck,” “Othello” and “Glengarry Glen Ross” (which features Kieran Culkin, above).
“Good Night, and Good Luck,” a stage adaptation of a 2005 film about the confrontation between the television journalist Edward R. Murrow and the anti-Communist senator Joseph McCarthy, had already been racking up eye-popping numbers, thanks to the popularity of Clooney and the timeliness of its theme about the importance of an independent press. During the week that ended May 4, it took in $4 million — a record high for a play, and more than twice what “The Lion King” took in that week.
“Othello” is also having an amazing run. The revival is in a much smaller theater (1,043 seats, compared with 1,537 for “Good Night, and Good Luck”), where high demand for limited supply has driven ticket prices up; many seats are priced at $921, and the play had an average ticket price of $387 last week.