PERFECT CRIME Enters 27th Year Off-Broadway
Perfect Crime, the Off-Broadway 'whodunit,' is turning 27 on April 18th - continuing on as the longest running play in the city's history. The smart, funny and fast-paced thriller at the Anne L. Bernstein Theater in the Snapple Theater Center in Times Square will have played over 10,648 performances since it first opened in 1987 - to much fanfare, worldwide.
Perfect Crime features Catherine Russell, who has starred in the show since its first performance and has never taken a sick day or vacation day in the past 25 years. It's a feat that has landed her in the Guinness Book of World Records. Russell's incredible streak has been featured on Entertainment Tonight, The Today Show, Good Morning America and in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Daily News and numerous other media outlets including The Associated Press and People, which dubbed her "The Cal Ripken of Broadway".
Internationally, Perfect Crime shares some similarities with London's long-running THE MOUSETRAP. Both plays are thrillers, both opened to a combination of critical acclaim and attacks, and both have been described in Agatha Christie's words about THE MOUSETRAP: "the kind of play you can take anyone to. Not really frightening. Not really a farce, but it has a little bit of all these things and perhaps it satisfies a lot of different people." Both plays have "groupies" or people who have seen it 10 or 15 times, both productions run in small theatres - with cast members who are not stars, but are breaking records for longevity.
The perfect show for Law&Order and CSI fans, Perfect Crime tells the story of attractive psychiatrist and suspected cold-blooded killer Margaret Brent, her wealthy husband, deranged patient, and the handsome detective who's falling in love with her.
Since Perfect Crime opened in 1987, Catherine Russell has spent over two years of her life (nearly 17,000 hours) onstage. She has shot 89 different men and kissed 57 others. Nearly 83,000 bullets have been fired onstage and over 5,000 prop coffee cakes have been eaten. The show has employed 241 actors during its 26-year existence.
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 (a well known Broadway restaurant owner making an on-video cameo); 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 are available by calling the box office at (212) 921-7862 or online at www.Ticketmaster.com. 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.
