Los Angeles: Hollywood star Bradley Cooper has joined the elite club of actors whose name on a Broadway marquee is a virtual guarantee of a quick hit, alongside such stars as Hugh Jackman, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington and Daniel Craig.
Cooper's longtime passion project, 'The Elephant Man', has recouped its USD 3.1 million capitalisation just six-and-a-half weeks after performances of the revival began at the Booth Theatre.
The Bernard Pomerance play, which also stars Patricia Clarkson and Alessandro Nivola, broke the house record for the third time over Christmas week, grossing USD 1,058,547. That brings the drama's cumulative total through December 28 to USD 7.1 million.
Cooper's latest film, 'American Sniper', also did huge business at the box office over the holidays, yielding the biggest opening of all time for a limited Christmas release.
The Clint Eastwood-directed war drama expands nationwide on January 16. 'The Elephant Man' has been playing to 100 percent capacity houses since previews began on November 7. It officially opened to warm reviews on December 7 and is scheduled to run in a limited engagement through February 22.
Cooper's long attachment to the real-life role of Joseph Merrick, the tragically deformed outcast embraced by Victorian English society after a harrowing youth, began when he saw the David Lynch film of the same name at age 12.
He first performed the title role in Pomerance's play as his Actors Studio master's thesis project and then appeared at the 2012 Williamstown Theatre Festival in a full production directed by Scott Ellis. While it was delayed to fit with Cooper's film schedule, that staging transferred to Broadway largely intact.
