The first-week collection of "The Elephant Man", in which Bradley Cooper reprised his role as the severely deformed John Merrick on Broadway's Booth Theatre on Thursday, hints that he may be Broadway's next Hugh Jackman.
The actor, who had been voted the Sexiest Man Alive in 2011, had first starred in "The Elephant Man" at the 2012 Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts, the Daily Mail reported.
According to Boston Herald, "The Elephant Man" generated $520,087 from just four previews. If it is compared on per-performance basis, the result is better than what Bette Midler could manage in the initial previews of "I'll Eat You Last".
Midler's "I'll Eat You Last" was also played in Booth Theatre. This theatre is one of the smallest in Broadway in terms of volume, consisting of 774 seats.
The price of per ticket, on an average, was $163. Tickets of Hugh Jackman's "The River" had been sold for an average $160, which made a record of $917,008, according to Variety.
If Cooper's "The Elephant Man" continues to draw such revenue, he will be counted among one of the few Hollywood stars, with the reputation of increasing sales. Others in this list include Hugh Jackman, Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts. Cooper had co-starred with Roberts on Broadway in "Three days of Rain".
The Schubert Organisation that owns Telecharge announced its schedule that is expanded between Thanksgiving to New Year's on several Broadway shows. So, now we all know that the Philadelphia-native actor is going to spend the holiday season working.
The Broadway League stated that last year, more than a million people saw Broadway shows between Thanksgiving and Christmas and the ticket sales amounted to a gross of $113.58 million. The amount is exclusive of the sales after some shows expanded their performance schedules, New York Observer reported.
