Perfect Crime (play)

Perfect Crime is a 1987 murder mystery/thriller play by Warren Manzi. It tells the story of Margaret Thorne Brent, a Connecticut psychiatrist and potential cold-blooded killer who may have committed "the perfect crime." When her wealthy husband, W. Harrison Brent, turns up dead, she gets caught in the middle of a terrifying game of cat and mouse with her deranged patient, Lionel McAuley, and Inspector Ascher, the handsome but duplicitous investigator assigned to the case.

Perfect Crime is the longest-running play in New York City history since it premiered in 1987, and has had over 15,000 performances, a milestone reached on December 5, 2024.

The play has been called "an urban legend" by The New York Times critic Jason Zinoman because of its long and storied history.

Perfect Crime was originally optioned for Broadway in 1980 by Morton Gottlieb, just after author Manzi graduated from the Yale School of Drama. At age 25, Manzi, then understudying Tim Curry for the role of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Amadeus on Broadway, was one of the youngest American authors ever to have a play optioned for Broadway. After producer Morton Gottlieb wanted to change the play's title to Guilty Hands, Manzi lost interest and went to Hollywood to write screenplays, including one of the many versions of the film Clue.

With the script sitting in a drawer for several years, the play ultimately began its life in 1987, in Greenwich Village at the Courtyard Playhouse on Grove Street, produced by the Actors Collective, a not-for-profit theater company where Manzi was serving as artistic director. Commercial producer Armand Hyatt moved the show immediately after its four-week limited run to an Off-Broadway venue.

Since opening on April 18, 1987, Perfect Crime has played for more than 15,000 performances, starring Catherine Russell. It is directed by Jeffrey Hyatt. It played in a number of New York theaters over the years including:

In November 2016, Gary Busey spent two weeks in the role of Lionel.

In March 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak and state mandated venue restrictions Perfect Crime suspended performances. Performances resumed on April 17, 2021 becoming the first off-Broadway production in New York City to reopen with approval from Actors Equity.