Perfect Crime, the longest-running play in the history of New York theater, celebrated its historic 22nd Anniversary and 9,000th performance with a two-day celebration April 17-18 2009. The event recognized Catherine Russell, star and general manager of Perfect Crime, for her record-breaking twenty two-year run in Perfect Crime and her induction into The Guinness Book of World Records.
On Saturday, April 18, 2009 the entire audience for the 8PM performance of Perfect Crime celebrated the show's latest milestone with a special post-performance cocktail party. At the event The Office of Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented Perfect Crime with a citation honoring the show's status as a New York City cultural landmark. In addition, Russell was formally inducted into The Guinness Book of World Records for The Most Performances By A Theater Actor in the Same Role.
Russell has appeared in the play since its first performance on April 18, 1987 and has appeared in every performance of the play except four. Her record has been featured on Entertainment Tonight and The Today Show and in The New York Times, People magazine, The Wall Street Journal and numerous other publications.
During Perfect Crime's long run, nearly 1.5 million audience members have seen the show; 80,478 gunshots have been fired; 4,862 prop coffee cakes (an important clue in the show's mystery plot) have been consumed; and hundreds of actors have been employed. Russell, meanwhile, has spent over two years of her life onstage (16,000+ hours).
Since 1987 Perfect Crime has seen a number of changes and innovations in both the production and the play itself. The script has been updated to reflect necessary shifts in cultural phenomena to keep the play relevant as a "slice of life" drama. Outdated technology has been replaced by cell phones and an on-set flat screen television. A character's net worth has been upped from $10 million to $500 million, a plot point involving The Phil Donahue Show has been changed to The Oprah Winfrey Show, and a reference to an AMEX gold card was changed first to a platinum card and now to black. Costumes have been re-designed a number of times to reflect shifting trends in business wear, women's fashion and detective garb.
PERFECT CRIME performs Mondays at 8PM, Wednesdays at 2PM, Thursdays at 8PM, Fridays at 8PM, Saturdays at 2PM & 8PM and Sundays at 3PM & 7:15PM. Tickets, priced $41 - $51, are available by calling the box office at (212) 921-7862 or Ticketmaster.com at (212) 307-4100. Specially-priced $26 student tickets are available at the box office.
The Snapple Theater Center is located at 210 West 50th Street (at Broadway).
Michael Brian Dunn, Catherine Russell and Guinness World Records representative Laura Plunkett
