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On Broadway
WHAT'S more anemic than the victim of a vampire?
Try the box office of "Lestat."
A week after opening to some of the worst reviews for any show this season, Elton John's $10 million vampire fiasco finds itself on the critical list.
Ticket sales are averaging about $50,000 a day, which simply is not enough to keep the show going for long. (Rule of thumb on Broadway: To stay in the black, a $10 million show has to take in about $90,000 a day.)
A production source says Warner Bros., the show's producer, is monitoring the financial situation week to week, hoping a TV ad campaign will boost ticket sales.
But that's wishful thinking, and there's plenty of talk that "Lestat" will fold before the June 11 Tony Awards.
The vultures are already circling around the Palace.
The producers of "The Pajama Game" are considering transferring their hit revival there after it finishes up its sold-out run at the nonprofit American Airlines Theater.
The producers of both "Curtains," John Kander and Fred Ebb's very funny new show, and "Legally Blonde," yet another musical based on a movie, are also sniffing around the Palace.
"Lestat" certainly can't count on getting a bump from Tony nominations; in fact, it's likely to be shut out of the Tonys - although it's possible director Rob Jess Roth could get a special citation for Worst Direction in the History of the Broadway Musical.
ANOTHER dog of a show, "The Wedding Singer," isn't in quite as bad shape as "Lestat."
It's been taking in around $70,000 a day, and is benefiting from a skillfully produced TV commercial. (Don't be fooled: What looks good on TV will bore you to tears in the theater.)
Unlike "Lestat," "The Wedding Singer" will probably pick up a few Tony nominations.
Not, God willing, for Best Musical, but probably for Felicia Finley, the only genuinely witty performer in the show, and possibly for pretty leading lady Laura Benanti, who sings the show's one halfway decent song, "Come Out of the Dumpster." (And Get into a Better Show!)
At the opening, comatose first-nighters were trying to figure out what went wrong with "The Wedding Singer," which is based on the hugely popular 1998 movie.
The consensus is that the movie was essentially a vehicle for two terrific movie stars - Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore.
Take them out of the equation, and you're left with pretty flimsy stuff.
DULY noted:
* The Obies are giving a lifetime achievement award to Eric Bentley, the celebrated critic, playwright and translator.
At 90, Bentley, author of such indispensible theater books as "The Playwright as Thinker," "Thinking About the Playwright" and "The Brecht Memoir," is as sharp as ever.
As critic John Heilprin noted in the New York Observer last week, Bentley fled the Roundabout's ghastly "The Threepenny Opera" at intermission. His one-sentence review: "No tragedy ever made me suffer so much."
* Congratulations to Martin McDonagh, the only writer ever to win both an Oscar (for his short film "Six Shooter") and, far more important, a Lucille Lortel Award (for "The Lieutenant of Inishmore") in the same year.
* Jan Maxwell is worried that, after her public spat with Alec Baldwin, she's going to be blackballed. Not a chance. The actress, who's up for a Drama Desk Award for her performance in "Entertaining Mr. Sloane," is far too talented not to work again - and soon. She's a great addition to any cast.
michael.riedel@nypost.com
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