PERFECT CRIME Hits 9500 Performances 7/14

Perfect Crime, the longest-running play in the history of New York theater, will play its 9,500th performance on Wednesday, July 14, 2010.

Some amazing facts about Perfect Crime: Since Perfect Crime opened in 1987, 237 actors have been employed; Leading lady Catherine Russell has spent over two years of her life (16,500+ hours) onstage; She has shot 89 different men and kissed 57 others; 82,718 bullets have been fired onstage; 4,951 prop coffee cakes (an important clue in the mystery's plot) have been eaten; and The show has changed with the times, as outdated technology and references to Phil Donahue have been replaced by flat screen TVs and Oprah.

Perfect Crime, New York's answer to The Mousetrap, was optioned for Broadway in 1980 while its 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 one version 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.

One of the most interesting associations with Perfect Crime is the story of its leading lady, Catherine Rusell, who has starred in the show since its first performance, played all but four of its performances and has been inducted into The Guinness Book of World Records for this feat. Russell has been featured on Entertainment Tonight, The Today Show, People magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The NY Daily News and in every other paper of record.

A secluded mansion. A would-be murderess. The perfect crime. In Perfect Crime, Margaret Thorne Brent is an accomplished Connecticut psychiatrist-and potential cold-blooded killer. When her wealthy husband turns up possibly murdered, 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 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 ($41 - $51) 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.