Helen Mirren is really as Queen Elizabeth II. (She’s also played Elizabeth I, mind you.) First she won an Oscar for “The Queen.” Now she’s thrown her hat in for a Tony for playing Liz in “The Audience,” directed by Stephen Daldry, written and updated by Peter Morgan. “The Audience” opened on Broadway Sunday night after a hit run in London’s West End.

Mirren could wind up being the first actress to win an Oscar and a Tony for playing the same character in different genres and different stories.

Daldry, mind you, sets a record for having plays opening in theaters next to each other– “The Audience” at the Schoenfeld and “Skylight” next door at the Golden. He could also– will also be nominated for directing each of them. “The Audience” is original, “Skylight” is a revival.

“The Audience” is much improved from its London run, a little lighter and bouncier than it had been. The changes are not purely for American audiences. The same changes go in to the new London production about to commence with Kristin Scott Thomas as The Queen.

This will be one of those productions that sets box office records, I think. Mirren is mesmerizing as she plays Queen Elizabeth from the time her father died and her first “audience” with Winston Churchill to the current PM David Cameron. The play cuts back and forth, requiring Mirren to display different textures including posture and pitch of voice. She’s done it before, but here it just seems effortless. And her costume quick changes are right up there in the record books.

Daldry and Mirren know each other so well that by now this is indeed their magic act. But kudos have to go to Judith Ivey, an unexpectedly delicious Margaret Thatcher, Dakin Matthews as Churchill. Dylan Baker gets the comedy and tragedy of John Major, and Richard McCabe is sensational as Harold Wilson, the Queen’s “favorite” PM.

What Daldry and Mirren have done is make QEII–who used to seem aloof and out of touch, enemy of Diana–sympathetic. She objected to Thatcher’s dismissal of the poor, fought with Anthony Eden over the Suez canal, and identified with Wilson’s labor instincts. Is she really an old leftie? Has she always been the friend of the little guy? Frankly, the Queen should invite Mirren and Daldry over for dinner. They’ve been her best publicists.

Lots of Broadway type guests at the swanky after party, from Michael Feinstein to Mirren’s husband Taylor Hackford, plus Tyne Daly, Walter Bobbie, Richard La Gravenese, actors from the upcoming “Wolf Hall” and so on. “Newsroom” star Emily Mortimer arrived a few minutes and she was made to stand at the rear of the orchestra for the whole first act in high, uncomfortable heels by the ushers. She didn’t complain. Director Kenny Ortega came from L.A. on crutches to see the show, and then walked the four long blocks to the party — with the crutches! That’s a good friend!

PS The Shuberts have this show, and chief honcho Phil Smith, whom everyone loves, liked it so much he came to the party. That’s when you know you have a winner!

No photos from last night’s premiere of “Fish in the Dark” on Broadway. All press was banned, including all photographers. “No photo op,” the edict from Scott Rudin’s office according to the photo agencies. Unusual? Unheard of. What were they afraid of?

While reviewers were busy finding metaphors for the play’s deficiencies– how about this fish stinks from the head?– a blackout occurred from the premiere. Earlier in the day yesterday, the publicist planted an item in the Daily News extolling who would be coming to the opening night. Sally Field! Tom Hanks!

But were they there? There’s no evidence of it on line. I will assume Tom Hanks saw the show– his wife, Rita Wilson, is in it. But the “Seinfeld” cast? Most of them were in Los Angeles, where Jessica Seinfeld had had a fundraising event at The Palm for her Baby Buggy charity. Jerry, George, and Kramer were all there having a reunion.

Meantime, as I knew on that first day, “Fish” is getting fried. I feel bad. It’s not a play. It’s completely dependent on Larry playing “Larry,” here called “Norman.” No one in the audience cares. They are by and large David’s TV fans and not theatergoers. One reviewer called this a celebrity appearance. True enough.

I am a devout “Curb Your Enthusiasm” fan. One episode, called “Palestinian Chicken,” should have gotten a Pulitzer prize. The show is pure genius. I’m one of those people who keeps waiting for a new season. One of the great seasons was the one in which Larry was set to appear in “The Producers” on Broadway. Mel Brooks and the late Anne Bancroft are in it. The final episode, a parody of “The Producers” within “The Producers” is beyond brilliant. There’s another episode which a member of the show “Survivor” meets a Holocaust survivor. Again. Come on. I’m still laughing.

But “Fish” is coarse. It’s bathroom humor, it’s stupid. I think the flashes of greatness in it, if boiled down, would fill a half hour. Even though David’s done it before, there’s a riff on tipping that’s excellent. But the whole business of Larry’s “mother” (actress Jane Houdyshell, much younger than Larry David) having sex with a young man she supposedly thinks is her dead husband– not ready for Broadway. And all the relatives who show up– it’s like they’re from an early 1960s movie. They’re stereotypes that don’t work anymore except in revivals.

What does it matter, anyway? I said from that first preview that this would be like printing money. They’ve made $13 million. People are selling kidneys to get a seat. Maybe if they can’t get in they’ll try something a little heftier by accident and have a theater revelation.