Perfect Crime

The perfect show for Law & Order and CSI fans, PERFECT CRIME is a funny, romantic thriller about a psychiatrist who seems to have killed her rich husband (until he shows up very much alive); the detective who is trying to solve the supposed murder while falling in love with the primary suspect; and the psychiatrist's charming but crazy patient who seems to have killed a few people himself. There are Agatha Christie-like twists and turns in the plot which keeps people guessing until the final gunshot.

Get ready to have a killer night at the theatre with Perfect Crime, Warren Manzi’s long-running crime drama that leaves you guessing until the last gunshot. Get Perfect Crime tickets on TodayTix.

The Perfect Crime play opens with a gunshot. A woman has shot a man, but we don’t know who the killer or the victim are. The play unfolds over the course of a weeklong investigation of the crime, led by Detective James Ascher. He initially thinks the psychiatrist/novelist Margaret Thorne Brent killed her husband, but she’s not the only suspect — one of her patients has a few murders on his record and sought fame for it. Plus, there’s the fact that her husband turns out to be alive and well — or does he? Perfect Crime is filled with family secrets, mistaken identities, and forbidden romances that make for a thoroughly thrilling mystery for audiences to unravel right alongside the detective.

Perfect Crime first premiered at the Courtyard Playhouse with the Actors Collective, a nonprofit company that Manzi headed as artistic director. Catherine Russell originated the role of Margaret Thorne Brent and continues to star in the play to this day. Since its premiere, Perfect Crime has moved between four more theatres before settling into its current home at The Theater Center. On April 17, 2021, Perfect Crime became the first Off-Broadway show to reopen since the pandemic shut down theatres.

Get tickets to Perfect Crime off Broadway now.

What to Watch For

• Catherine Russell holds the Guinness World Record for playing the most theatre performances in the same role. She set that record in 2008 after reaching 8,820 performances as Margaret and has only added to her total. Russell has only missed four shows since Perfect Crime opened in 1987!
• Now with more than 12,000 performances in the books, Perfect Crime Off-Broadway holds the record as the longest-running play in New York.
• However, the show still has a while to go before beating the longevity of the Off-Off-Broadway play Line. That show premiered in 1967, but its revival ran from 1974 to 2018 — nearly 44 years. Perfect Crime, though, is at 34 years and shows no signs of stopping!
• Perfect Crime has played more performances in its 34 years, though, than Line did in 44, which is why Perfect Crime holds the “longest-running” record.
• If you still find yourself confused by all the twists after watching the play, that’s okay! A two-page answer sheet is provided at the end to clear everything up.