\'Glengarry Glen Ross\' Off to a Hot Start at the Box Office

The real estate salesmen may complain about cold business leads in David Mamet's play “Glengarry Glen Ross,” but the new Broadway revival of “Glengarry” is off to a very hot start at the box office. The production, starring Al Pacino, grossed $703,775 for its first four preview performances at the Schoenfeld Theater last week, or about 119 percent of the maximum possible gross â€" a huge percentage normally enjoyed by blockbuster musicals on Broadway like “The Book of Mormon” and “Wicked,” and rarely by straight plays.

To understand the significance of the sum, compare “Glengarry” to another hit play with movie stars that ran at the Schoenfeld Theater in 2009, “A Steady Rain” with Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig. “Glengarry” grossed about $176,000 for each performance last week, while “Steady Rain” grossed an average of about $150,000 for each performance during its 13-week run, according to calculations of box office data compiled by th e Broadway League, the trade association of theater owners and producers.

The gross for “Glengarry” is so high because its producers are aggressively raising ticket prices for the best seats; the top price for so-called premium tickets at “Glengarry” is $350. Last week the average paid admission for “Glengarry” was $164.47 â€" second only to “The Book of Mormon,” at $189.13, and far ahead of the show with the third highest paid admission, “The Lion King” at $129.20.

Among the other new Broadway shows that are in previews performances on recently opened, the revivals of “Annie” (starring Tony Award winner Katie Finneran) and “The Heiress” (starring Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain) had respectable grosses last week of $733,956 and $507,850 respectively. The new musical “Scandalous,” with a book and lyrics by television host Kathie Lee Gifford, had a relatively weak gross of $241,613 for seven preview performances last week, or 23 perc ent of the maximum possible gross.
Overall Broadway plays and musicals grossed $22 million last week, according to the Broadway League, which released the data on Monday. By contrast, Broadway shows grossed $20.6 million the previous week, and $21.5 million for the comparable week last year.