Scarlett Johansson knew there had been other Broadway revivals of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" recently, in 2008 and in 2003, but so what? She wanted to play Tennessee Williams's famed Maggie the Cat on Broadway.

Broadway was happy to accommodate.

"Certain actors - Scarlett is one of them - add a great deal of attractiveness to a project," said the show's producer, Stuart Thompson, who avoided mentioning how stars help shows be profitable. With Ms. Johansson on board, Mr. Thompson quickly raised $3.6 million, and the third "Cat" in a decade opened in January - to strong box office sales, if mixed reviews.

Hollywood stars like Ms. Johansson and Al Pacino have become so essential to Broadway that they are calling the shots as never before, bringing back plays that were seen on Broadway only a few years earlier and sometimes edging out new works. These actors and their agents increasingly dictate terms about the number of performance weeks (usually just 14 or so), salaries ($100,000 a week is not unheard of) and days off (in case they need to promote a film or attend an awards ceremony).

Next up: "Waiting for Godot," starring the "X-Men" pair Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, which will be back on Broadway this fall after just four years.

"The thing that slightly depresses me is the resulting and consequent lack of brave, new work appearing seasonably on the Broadway stages," said Jack O'Brien, a Tony-winning director of plays and musicals.

Mr. O'Brien himself directed Katie Holmes, in "Dead Accounts" on Broadway last fall, but that was a new play rather than a revival - and it flopped at the box office, highlighting the risks for stars taking on untested works. By contrast, the Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain is now in a revival of the classic play "The Heiress" - and it just turned a profit.

Major stars help create demand for premium seats of $200 to $300 - crucial if a show is to make money.

Bernard Telsey, a casting director, said more stars have been in an enviable position since the great recession of 2008-9. "Star casting became more of a necessity that drove ticket-buying audiences, because they were being choosy and buying less," Mr. Telsey said.

"Glengarry Glen Ross" was also on Broadway recently, in 2005. But it returned last fall because Mr. Pacino wanted to play one of the key roles, the aging salesman Shelly Levene. The lead producer, Jeffrey Richards, happily obliged, and agreed to pay Mr. Pacino about $120,000 a week - one of the highest salaries ever for a play.

Broadway producers used to pick the shows and casts, but productions are now more often generated by actors like Mr. Pacino, Mr. Richards said, because ever-higher ticket prices put Broadway at the mercy of the stars.

"But they have to be the right stars in great plays," Mr. Richards said. "In this case Al felt he was at the right point in his life to play Shelly, so we moved on it."

Many critics were lukewarm on Mr. Pacino, but the $3.3 million production was a hit.

As producers choose star-driven revivals, some are passing up new plays. Mr. Richards brought back "Glengarry" in the same season he was supposed to do a new play on Broadway, the Pulitzer finalist "Detroit," which ended up running Off Broadway.

To producers, the most proven box office stars for plays now are Mr. Pacino, Hugh Jackman and Denzel Washington. The women most mentioned are Julia Roberts and Ms. Johansson.

Ms. Johansson said many actors have dreamed about certain roles. "I'm the right age for Maggie, and now felt like the right time for me," she said.

What if Ms. Johansson had proposed a play that was a bad fit for her? "I like to think I would have said no," Mr. Thompson said. "But really, I don't know."

The New York Times

(China Daily 02/17/2013 page12)