June 6 (Bloomberg) -- Playing just 63 performances on Broadway, an acclaimed, brutal production of ``Macbeth'' starring Patrick Stewart earned its producers a cauldron full of money.

``Macbeth'' made a profit of about $350,000 to $450,000 on an initial investment of $1 million, producer Emanuel Azenberg said in an interview yesterday. He said he'll have a final tally when he receives all the bills.

``I'm really pleased,'' Azenberg said. ``Only once in a while do we see a Shakespeare that's accessible.''

Azenberg, part of a team of British and American producers, said the limited run on Broadway wasn't a preordained hit. About 20,000 people saw the show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music before the transfer. Laced with video imagery, Soviet-style military costumes and blood, it originated at the Chichester Festival Theatre in West Sussex, south of London. The cast was almost entirely British, and the move to Broadway required a waiver from Actors' Equity.

Thanks to mostly stellar reviews (Clive Barnes wrote in the New York Post that it's a ``Macbeth'' ``that no one in his senses -- or even slightly out of them -- should miss''), it played to near capacity in Broadway's 910-seat Lyceum Theatre. In its final two weeks, ``Macbeth'' sold as many as 100 ``premium'' seats per performance, at $251 each.

(Bloomberg's John Simon, breaking with the crowd, called Stewart ``a remarkably uncharismatic actor, equally adept at heaven storming rant and chopping up with draggy pauses and the occasional artful pirouette.'')

The production is nominated for six Tony Awards, including for best revival; for actress Kate Fleetwood, who is married to the play's director, Rupert Goold; and for Stewart as best actor. The awards will be announced in a live CBS telecast on Sunday evening, June 15.

The Lyceum's next occupant: a theatrical house of mirrors called ``title of show,'' a quirky comic musical about the making of a musical called ``title of show.'' It opens on July 17.

To contact the reporter on this story: Philip Boroff in New York at pboroff@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 6, 2008 14:12 EDT