Do you know the secret behind Perfect Crime, the long-running mystery play about to celebrate its 22nd anniversary and 9,000th performance at New York City’s Snapple Theater Center? Perfect Crime has been running longer than any other play in the history of New York theater – longer than Mamma Mia, longer than Wicked, even longer than Cats. Through the years over a million and a half audience members have watched the play’s taut, compelling storyline unfold onstage at this New York institution The New York Times calls “a wonderfully puzzling urban legend.”
Photo courtesy DBS Press
A secluded mansion. A would-be murderess. The perfect crime. Margaret Brent is an accomplished Connecticut psychiatrist – and potential cold-blooded killer. When her wealthy husband turns up dead, she gets caught in the middle of a terrifying game of cat and mouse with a deranged patient and the handsome but duplicitous investigator assigned to the case. The play contains many unexpected revelations and well-timed surprises and even the most hardcore mystery fan will be kept guessing until the final startling twist. It’s “a true New York mystery,” according to New York magazine, “with gunshots, mistaken identities, a silly romantic subplot and a creepy painting that purportedly holds all the answers.”
The cast contains a colorful assortment of archetypal mystery characters played with a mix of smoldering intensity and laugh-out-loud humor. There’s the leading lady, a brilliant doctor with secrets to spare, played by Catherine Russell. The detective assigned to her case, Inspector Ascher, is played with grit and gusto by All My Children leading man Richard Shoberg. Rounding out the characters are Catherine’s dashing husband (and potential victim) Harrison and her comically unbalanced patient Lionel, played by Broadway veterans Patrick Ryan Sullivan and Michael Brian Dunn. Patrick Robustelli rounds out the cast as David Breuer, the host of a local cable television show.
Photo courtesy DBS Press
Perfect Crime attracts all sorts of audiences: mystery buffs trying to figure out the play’s legendary ending; couples out for date night; book clubs looking for spirited discussion; fans of television shows like Law & Order. There have even been special performances for NYPD detectives (who unsurprisingly seem to figure out more clues than anyone else), Mensa members, and actual figures from the world of crime like Claus von Bulow, Carolyn Warmus and Michael Milken.
Besides being the longest-running play in New York City history, Perfect Crime contains another world record. Catherine Russell has been playing the role of Margaret since the very first performance in 1987. She has acted in every single performance except four in the show’s 22-year history. (She missed four performances to attend her siblings’ weddings.) History is made every night at Perfect Crime as Ms. Russell takes the stage in her complex role, and missing her performance would be the ultimate crime.
Right now tickets for this funny, sexy whodunit are available for just $41-$51 by calling the box office at (212) 921-7862 or Ticketmaster.com at (212) 307-4100. Perfect Crime is performed eight times a week at The Snapple Theater Center, located at 1627 Broadway (at 50th Street) in Times Square. And on April 18, 2009 Perfect Crime will celebrate its 22nd anniversary and 9,000th performance with a special post-performance cocktail party to which everyone holding a ticket for that evening’s performance is invited.
Experience the shocking ending already seen by over a million and a half people and make a date with Perfect Crime today.
Thanks to John Capo, DBS Press, for submitting this article to MBN. For more information about the play, please visit the Perfect Crime website.
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