The Broadway production of Death of a Salesman sounded like a lot of ho-hum to many when it was first announced that it was coming to the Great White Way. It’s a play that’s been done a million times by millions of different people and frankly, there are only so many ways to tell the story. Add to that the fact that it’s not a musical — the bread and butter of Broadway — and people start to get nervous. But the cast led by Philip Seymour Hoffman, and the impeccable direction of Mike Nichols has turned this same-old play into the hottest ticket on Broadway.

With four Tony nominations, a cast that includes not only Hoffman but Linda Edmond, John Glover, and Andrew Garfield (to name just a few,) no one needed to be told that this was one brilliant production. But the Broadway League just confirmed it with the announcement that the play grossed just over $1 million in earnings last week. That’s a record for the Barrymore Theatre where the play is showing — and that’s while running only seven plays a week instead of the typical eight that shows usually see.

The theatre does charge appropriately for what audiences get in return — the average for one of last week’s ticket was $140.68 — something that has allowed investors in the show to already start to see a return on their $3.1 million investment. But the figures certainly back up the brilliance of the show, and those who have seen the show will tell you that every second is worth every penny.