Although their base salary is only $40,000 a week, they get a percentage of the box office. The play is slated to run for 12 weeks, leading to each actor receiving $1 million by the close in early December. In the first week of previews, only five performances, the straight play sold 100 percent of the house with an average ticket price of $143.35; the top ticket price is only $128--not counting premium seats, which are selling.
The Post adds that Julia Roberts was said to earn more than $150,000 a week in the revival of Three Days of Rain on Broadway in 2006. Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane each made more than $110,000 a week in The Producers and The Odd Couple. They're probably worth it. When David Hyde Pierce left the musical Curtains for a vacation week in 2007, box office fell by $240,000, according to Variety.
Bloomberg.com reports that Charlotte St. Martin in her second year as executive director of the Broadway League received $340,105 in salary and benefits. Poor Ms St. Martin: she has to work 52 weeks for that!Incidentally, Michael Riedel's column is often a juicy read. He reports the scuttlebutt, the gossip, the stuff you don't get on the theatre blogs or on Playbill.com. He is also the co-host of Theatre Talk, the NYC public television interview show available on the Web. It, too, is worth a look.
