PERFECT CRIME Celebrates 24th Anniversary

The longest-running play in New York City history is turning 24.

Perfect Crime, Warren Manzi's thriller that has been a New York mainstay since 1987, will celebrate its 24th anniversary on Monday, April 18, 2011 when it reaches performance number 9,818.

Leading lady Catherine Russell, who has starred in the show since its first performance, has only missed four of those 9,818 performances, a feat which recently landed her in the Guinness Book of World Records. Russell's incredible streak has been featured on Entertainment Tonight, The Today Show and Good Morning America and in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Daily News and numerous other publications including People, which dubbed her "The Cal Ripken of Broadway".

Since Perfect Crime opened in 1987, Russell has spent over two years of her life (nearly 17,000 hours) onstage. She has shot 89 different men and kissed 57 others. Almost 83,000 bullets have been fired onstage and over 5,000 prop coffee cakes have been eaten. Amazingly, the show has employed 237 actors during its 24-year existence.

As Perfect Crime reaches its historic 10,000th performance this September, a new set of updates is currently being implemented to modernize aspects of the production. Throughout the play's long history, a number of changes have been made to reflect cultural shifts and advancements in technology. A reference to the Phil Donahue Show was changed to the Oprah Winfrey Show (and will now need to be changed again!) An on-set tube television was replaced by a wall-hanging flat screen. A character's net worth has been upped from $30 million to $500 million.

Perfect Crime, New York's answer to The Mousetrap, was optioned for Broadway in 1980 while author Warren Manzi was playing Mozart in the Broadway production of Amadeus. At the time, Manzi was the youngest American to have a play optioned for Broadway. After he refused prospective producer Morton Gottlieb's request to change the title to Guilty Hands and star Mary Tyler Moore or Elaine Stritch, Manzi went to Hollywood and wrote several screenplays, including two versions of Clue for John Landis.

The script sat in Manzi's drawer for seven years until he became the artistic director of a theater company that produced the play. Initially opening as an Equity Showcase on April 18, 1987 for a four-week limited run at The Courtyard Playhouse, Perfect Crime has since become what New York Times critic Jason Zinoman called "an urban legend" thanks to its incredible staying power.

The cast of Perfect Crime also includes John Hillner (Georges in the 2004 Broadway revival of La Cage Aux Folles; Broadway's Mamma Mia!, Company, Crazy For You, Woman of the Year, They're Playing Our Song, Little Me, Footloose, Zorba, Big: the musical); television veteran George McDaniel (Hill Street Blues, Little House on the Prairie, Dallas, Cagney & Lacey, Mama's Family, Saved By The Bell, ER, The West Wing); Patrick Robustelli (Guardian Star); and Richard Shoberg, who played Tom Cudahy on ABC's All My Children for 24 years. Perfect Crime is directed by Jeffrey Hyatt.

Tickets for Perfect Crime ($51 - $61) are available by calling the box office at (212) 921-7862 or Ticketmaster.com at (212) 307-4100. Student rush tickets ($26) are also available by calling or visiting the box office.

The Snapple Theater Center is located at 210 West 50th Street at Broadway.

www.perfect-crime.com

 

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