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Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane are starring in a revival of Terrence McNally’s “It’s Only a Play” this fall. The play opens Oct. 9, but, as the NY Post reports, has already grossed $5.5 million, which puts it at the top for the season.
Last time Broderick and Lane were together, in a 2005 revival of Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple, ” things weren’t nearly as rich.
But all’s forgiven, and Broadway’s winning team of Mel Brooks’ 2001 “The Producers” are in the money. To remind you, on the day the Brooks show opened, they sold $3 million in tickets, and then, when Broderick and Lane returned to the show in 2003, they and sold $3.5 million in one day.
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That was a musical. The rules are different for the quieter arts, and so $5.5 million is not bad at all. The Post now considers Broderick and Lane the equals of other Broadway starts who only have to put their name up on the marquis and folks throw money at them: Denzel Washington (“A Raisin in the Sun”), Daniel Craig (“Betrayal”), Julia Roberts (“Three Days of Rain”), and Hugh Jackman (“Back on Broadway”).
“It’s Only a Play” premiered in 1982, so if you were not at least a teenager at the time, you probably won’t get many of the inside jokes. So McNally’s been updating the script, adding fresh jabs at people who are still alive today. The updated list of victims includes Harvey Fierstein, Jordan Roth and Rosie O’Donnell.
“Who needs money when you’re funny?” Everybody.