He's a Broadway stalwart with a revival currently reaping massive critical acclaim on the Great White Way, yet the American playwright Edward Albee has dismissed New York's main theatre district as "usually junk".

In a television appearance on Sunday, the three-time Pulitzer prizewinner explained that he had little time for Broadway productions because commercial potential overshadowed artistic intention.

"It's all about not doing the best plays but doing the ones that will sell the most tickets," Albee said on CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood, adding that he rarely attended such shows as a result. "I used to go see more, since I'm one of the voters for the stuff," he continued, referring to his role as a Tony award voter. "Now I just lie."

Though a significant proportion of Albee's plays, including A Delicate Balance, The Lady from Dubuque and his infamous flop, a musical adaptation of Breakfast at Tiffany's, were produced on Broadway, he has in recent years preferred to premiere work off-Broadway. His latest play, Laying an Egg, was due to open at the Signature theatre in February last year but was postponed after a reported case of writer's block. It is yet to make it to production.

However, his 1962 hit Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, last seen in the UK at the Sheffield Crucible two years ago, is doing a roaring trade on Broadway. The 50th anniversary production, which stars playwright and actor Tracy Letts, recently extended its run by a month, following a string of rave reviews.

According to New York Times critic Charles Isherwood, the play set "a new standard for truth-telling – not to mention expletive-spewing – in the commercial theatre" on its first outing, but has lost none of its sting today. "Albee's scalding drama of marital discord still retains the bantam energy and strong bite of his youth," Isherwood wrote.

Asked on CBS what Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf was about, Albee replied, "It's about two and half hours, three hours."