HER ROYAL SKY-HIGHNESS!

Queen Helen Mirren reigns over the Broadway box office

LARRYDavid is king of the Broadway box office this season in “Fish in the Dark.” The show opened with $14 million in the bank, and the limited run at the Cort, through June 7, is pretty much sold-out. So who’s the queen? I’ll give you a hint. She plays one.

If you said Helen Mirren, you win a scepter!

Mirren opened Sunday night as Elizabeth II in “The Audience” at the Schoenfeld. She received glowing reviews, though the critics didn’t bow and scrape before

Peter Morgan’s play. No matter. It’s a star vehicle, and Mirren’s bigger than the Sun.

The box office shot up this week. Sources say the advance sale now exceeds $8 million, and the show is expected to take in about $1 million a week. At that rate, it should recoup its crown jewels ($3.8 million) midway through its 19-week run.

Mirren has to be considered the front-runner for this year’s Tony for Best Actress in a Play. It’s the only major acting award she has yet to win, and that, I’m told, is one reason she decided to do “The Audience” on Broadway. Could she be toppled? Well, Ruth Wilson is superb in “Constellations.” But that show closes Sunday, so that probably clips her chances.

Elisabeth Moss is about to open in “The Heidi Chronicles,” in a Tony-worthy role. Joan Allen, the original Heidi, was nomi- nated in 1989, but lost to the delightful Pauline Collins in “Shirley Valentine.”

Moss is probably a long shot, but don’t rule her out.

Far more of a threat to Queen Helen is Carey Mulligan, playing opposite Bill Nighy in “Skylight,” my favorite of David Hare’s many excellent plays.

The production and the performances received raves in London. Previews begin Friday nightt at the John Golden, andd the word of mouth from rehearsals has been glowing.

Maybe Mirren should pull a move from Elizabeth I and have Mulligan, as Mary Queen of Scots, locked up in a Shubert tower somewhere in Times Square.

HAVING been on the theater beat since the premiere of “Tobacco Road” in 1933, I’ve had the pleasure of competing against a slew of New York Times reporters.

I just missed out on going talon-to-talon with Alex Witchel, my role model and the Times’ theater columnist in 1990-1992. But I matched scoops with Jesse McKinley, a friendly competitor; Peter Marks, an excellent reporter and critic; Campbell Robertson, a courtly Southerner and engaging writer; and Jason Zinoman, who treated me fairly when David Leveaux knocked me off my bar stool at Angus McIndoe.

For the past several years, I’ve been up against Patrick Healy, probably the most aggressive of the lot. Every now and then he beat me on a story, usually when I was on vacation (just kiddin’, Pat!).

Healy’s off to cover the looming presidential race, trading in one coronation (Helen Mirren’s) for another ( Hillary Clinton’s as the Democratic nominee). I wish him well.

His replacement — and my new competitor — is Michael Paulson, formerly the religious correspondent.

Welcome to the beat, Michael. And may God have mercy on your soul.

Helen Mirren (front row, third from left) is supported by a large cast of British and American actors in “The Audience,” but she’s the one bringing in the bucks — and a likely Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Play.