On Broadway, the oldies are still the goodies.
As the spring season swings into view, the two shows selling the most tickets are revivals.
On the musical front, “Les Misérables,” first produced in New York in 1987, is the champ, having racked up a $10 million-plus advance before its first preview on March 1. Its backers expect sales to hit $12 million by its March 23 opening night.
“Les Miz” is one of the most popular musicals of all time. The movie version, starring Hugh Jackman, grossed nearly $450 million worldwide. One of my spies reports that it’s become a “generational bonding experience,” whose audience is made up of children and their parents, who probably saw the original production.
Though this is supposed to be a scaled-down version, the set is still lavish. All that’s missing is the turntable. The handsome Ramin Karimloo, as Jean Valjean, may not be Hugh Jackman, but, says a source, “He’s in the Hugh Jackman club.”
As for the plays, the front-runner — by miles and miles — is the revival of “Raisin in the Sun,” starring Denzel Washington. Previews begin tomorrow with $11 million in the bank. That puts it just below the Daniel Craig- Rachel Weisz “Betrayal,” which holds the record for largest non-musical play advance: $13 million.
I hear things have settled down in the rehearsal room as well. Diahann Carroll, who was set to return to Broadway after a decades-long absence, left the production last month, causing jitters among the cast. Now 78, she’s reportedly not up to the demands of an eight-performance week. Her replacement is LaTanya Richardson Jackson, a veteran of several August Wilson plays who, I’m told, has the role of Lena Younger well in hand.
It should be no surprise that both “Les Miz” and “A Raisin in the Sun” are being overseen by two top producers, Cameron Mackintosh and Scott Rudin.
I can imagine them both running around the theater, fiddling with the lights, adjusting the props, monitoring the till, telling the theater owners to turn up the heat in the dressing room. Hands-on producing at its best!
A couple of other shows are posting notable advances. “If/Then” received a nice boost from all the social media attention generated by John Travolta’s mangling of Idina Menzel’s name. I’m told Menzel’s entourage was in the wings at the Oscars teaching him the correct pronunciation — and still he got it wrong.
“If/Then,” the only musical of the season that’s not based on a movie, book or reality TV show, will open March 30 with, its backers think, a tidy $5 million or more in the bank.
And, finally, after a slow start, “All the Way,” which opened last night, is putting up some decent numbers. It’s got over $2 million in the bank, which isn’t bad for a three-hour play about the first year of Lyndon Johnson’s administration. The draw here is, of course, Bryan Cranston.
If you want to know what the infamous “Johnson treatment” was like, don’t miss Cranston in this role. He wheedles, charms, bullies, threatens, terrifies and seduces until he gets his way.
It’s a performance on par with Frank Langella’s as Richard Nixon in “Frost/Nixon.”
Among the VIPs who’ve seen the show so far are Ramsey Clark, Johnson’s attorney general; Johnson biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews.
Cranston greeted them all backstage after the performance.
The Clintons are expected to catch the show soon, and don’t be surprised if the Obamas swing by one night as well.
Obama could learn a thing or two from the “Johnson Treatment.” Maybe then he wouldn’t get run over by Putin and the Republicans.