I was a victim of "THE PERFECT CRIME"
I was a victim of "THE PERFECT CRIME"
Jason Radcliffe
Swing Joined: 12/24/09
#1I was a victim of "THE PERFECT CRIME"
Posted: 12/24/09 at 1:14am
I have to preface this message by letting the community know that I'm an educated theater goer who frequents the TKTS booth to utilize as many discounts that I can and after the constant buzz surrounding "The Perfect Crime" at the booth, I figured that I might as well take a chance on this work that claims to be the longest running play in new york history. I don't usually post on these boards but figured it was my responsibility as a New York theater lover, and more importantly a rational human being, to inform the community on what transpired.
I have always prided myself on never leaving a show until the curtain call to show the proper respect to the performers and creative team, but after act one of "Perfect Crime", I could not stomach the possibility of sitting through another second of this rubbish they promote as an artistic theatrical experience. This show was wretched...and don't get my wrong, I enjoy a trashy piece of tragic theater. "In My Life" and "Romantic Poetry" are two of my favorite theater experiences. But this leaves the realm of hilariously unforgettable and transports oneself into the inner depths of hell. There is zero acting to be found throughout the piece. In fact, you know its a problem when you start routing for the entire cast to be murdered, or better yet fantasizing about actually committing said murders. Also, the first sign of mediocrity occurs when the star of the show doubles as a skilled ticket taker until 7:59 pm. She probably should've kept her night job.
I am mostly angry with myself for falling for this cleanly executed tourist trap. After Act 1, I left the theater with a mother of two, a non-english speaking middle aged tourist, and two grandparents from Boca. We were all surrounded by a cloud of confusion and actualy had a great discussion about the validity of the production and the tactics used to trap us. We quickly discovered that we were actually the victims of "The Perfect Crime".
Please trust me and don't become the next victims of this scam and save yourself the money and disappointment. In an effort to save others that are misinformed, make yourself an instrument of disgust and vocalize your opinions to those passing out flyers for "The Perfect Crime" and educate the others around you. Do yourself a favor and take the LIRR and go see the new production of JEWTOPIA at Theater Three in Port Jefferson...it guarantees to be a more fulfilling theatrical experience and
#2re: I was a victim of 'THE PERFECT CRIME'
Posted: 12/24/09 at 1:49am
It is rare to get an anti-shill, but I applaud you for it.
http://backstage.blogs.com/blogstage/2009/04/actress-catherine-russell-celebrates-recordbreaking-22-years-and-9000-performances-in-perfect-crime.html
I have ever heard only bad things about this show. I want to see it.
ghostlight2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/5/04
#2re: I was a victim of 'THE PERFECT CRIME'
Posted: 12/24/09 at 1:59am
Well, merry christmas to you too, and welcome. No disrespect intended, but The Perfect Crime has been a well-known joke and a vanity piece for something like 20 years. I can understand your not liking it (it is god-awful and poorly performed), but seriously, you joined on christmas eve for the sole purpose of trashing this show? A show that most educated theater-goers think of as a laughing stock? And not only that, you're recruiting others to campaign against it while shilling for another show in Port Jefferson? Also, you fantasized about killing cast members? Aren't you taking this just a tad too seriously?
Where's your christmas spirit?
Hell, I despised Passing Strange, but it didn't make me homicidal, nor did I start prosthelytizing against it.
Also, you quit writing in the middle of a
winston89
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/18/06
#3re: I was a victim of 'THE PERFECT CRIME'
Posted: 12/24/09 at 2:32am
Ghostlight, I do believe that your taking the OP a little too seriously. I didn't think for a second while reading his post that he had any intention of being homicidal at all. He was jokingly saying that the show was so bad that he wanted to kill someone. Not that he was actually doing it.
Furthermore, I doubt he is out shilling for the Long Island production of Jewtopia. I think that he was using it as an example of a better show out there that he would suggest one should see over Perfect Crime.
ghostlight2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/5/04
#4re: I was a victim of 'THE PERFECT CRIME'
Posted: 12/24/09 at 3:18am
Me? I don't think for one minute the OP seriously meant he wanted to kill cast members, but don't you find it a trifle odd that he even fantasized it? I have seen a lot of really bad theater and that thought has never crossed my mind.
As to the shilling, honestly, I couldn't care less, but isn't it interesting that he knows just exactly where (theater three, Port Jefferson stop on the LIRR) Jewtopia is playing for that's an obscure little bit of knowledge. Also that he joined today to trash one show and promote another.
"In an effort to save others that are misinformed, make yourself an instrument of disgust and vocalize your opinions to those passing out flyers for "The Perfect Crime" and educate the others around you".
I also really, truly despise people telling me (and others) what I should and shouldn't see. I also don't think someone using a phrase like "make yourself an instrument of disgust" is doing a lot of joking around. Last, I can't for the life of me understand how someone can feel victimized by a piece of theater.
#5re: I was a victim of 'THE PERFECT CRIME'
Posted: 12/24/09 at 3:28amI'm still baffled by the opening sentence. How can someone claim to be an educated theatre goer and not know the reputation of The Perfect Crime?
#6re: I was a victim of 'THE PERFECT CRIME'
Posted: 12/24/09 at 3:43amWhy haven't I ever heard of this?
-JG2
#7re: I was a victim of 'THE PERFECT CRIME'
Posted: 12/24/09 at 7:46am
ghostlight, I haven't seen THE PERFECT CRIME, but I'm guessing that he was joking about killing the cast because cast members are "killed" during the course of the show and he was trying to be funny and say that he wished it had really happened because the show was so bad.
It would be amazing if the show was really an art piece and so meta that the "perfect crime" really was getting people to buy tickets to a bad show, but unfortunately, I don't think the creators are that creative.
winston89
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/18/06
#8re: I was a victim of 'THE PERFECT CRIME'
Posted: 12/24/09 at 9:49am
Ghostlight, I do get the impression that when the original poster said that they wanted to kill the cast that it wasn't meant to be an honest to god statement. How many times have we or heard someone else get stressed out and say something like " I swear to god I am going to kill her/him?" Do they actually mean it? No, of course not and we know that it is something said out of annoyance or stress.
As for the production of Jewtopia, I do feel that there are many reasons as to why he knew about it without being a shill. Maybe he lives on Long Island near the theatre where it is playing? Maybe he actually saw the show and knew the name of the theatre due to that. When it comes to naming a theatre on Broadway or off Broadway and the show that is playing there, no one bats an eye or thinks anything of it. However, if it is a show on, let's say, Long Island then there is a problem if someone knows the name.
#9re: I was a victim of 'THE PERFECT CRIME'
Posted: 12/24/09 at 10:26am
"I'm still baffled by the opening sentence. How can someone claim to be an educated theatre goer and not know the reputation of The Perfect Crime?"
Obviously not as educated as he thinks .... and if he "frequents the TKTS booth" he should have paid more attention to the "constant buzz" about this show.
#10re: I was a victim of 'THE PERFECT CRIME'
Posted: 12/24/09 at 11:42am
I feel your pain!!
As an actor who has performed in over a thousand of the inter active murder mystery musicals (or as is commonly known as dinner, dessert and death) I can empathise. Cartoon characters is the norm in these shows, so perhaps I can understand how you might feel slighted in the quality department.The shows paid rather well, included dinner and sometimes over night accommodations and kept me employed each weekend from 1987 through 2004 and it was certainly more fun than working in a store or other establishment serving the public. Take consolation that you never have to sit through another staged murder mystery! Have a HAPPIER New Year!
husk_charmer
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
#11re: I was a victim of 'THE PERFECT CRIME'
Posted: 12/24/09 at 1:39pm
I'd consider myself very educated, as a theatre goer, and had no idea of this shows existence.
That said, I am so seeing it the next trip I make.
#12re: I was a victim of 'THE PERFECT CRIME'
Posted: 12/24/09 at 3:50pm
"I'm still baffled by the opening sentence. How can someone claim to be an educated theatre goer and not know the reputation of The Perfect Crime?"
I consider myself extremely knowledgeable when it comes to theater. EXTREMELY. SOOOO knowledgeable. But when I saw the show last year all I knew about it was that it was the longest running play and the actress in it had only ever missed one performance in 20 years so when I was offered tickets to it, I went.
In my life I doubt I will ever see an actress as bored on stage as Catherine Russell was. For all I know she was doing her shopping list in her head while speaking every line of dialogue in a monotone that almost put me to sleep. How it's lasted so long is one of those great mysteries. Kind of like how Eden Espinosa still gets work and how Legally Blonde is playing successfully in London.
Updated On: 12/24/09 at 03:50 PM
#13re: I was a victim of 'THE PERFECT CRIME'
Posted: 12/24/09 at 5:45pmDon't you wish we had our own MOUSETRAP in NYC?
#14re: I was a victim of 'THE PERFECT CRIME'
Posted: 12/24/09 at 6:43pmIf you search this board, I believe there are a couple of threads on this show...I read through them one day and I find it fascinating. Isn't Catherine Russell also the company manager or a producer or something like that?
#15re: I was a victim of 'THE PERFECT CRIME'
Posted: 12/24/09 at 6:55pmI believe she's also the box office attendee and the usher. Updated On: 12/24/09 at 06:55 PM
AwesomeDanny
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/30/09
#16re: I was a victim of 'THE PERFECT CRIME'
Posted: 12/24/09 at 7:30pmMaybe that's how it ran for so long, if one person does all of those things. The interview TheaterFan4 linked to says that her understudy is also the assistant stage manager.
Edward Frake
Swing Joined: 12/26/09
#17Kind of sad...
Posted: 12/26/09 at 9:09am
Okay... so also as an "educated theatre goer"... I find this whole thing kind of sad. There is no question that this show is no good. Check any review you can find out there.
I just find it kind of sad that a tourist's first NY experience can potentially be ruined by such careless people. One of the biggest attractions to the city is the theatre and a first time tourist is almost definitely going to try and get tickets to something. And why wouldn't they buy tickets to a show that they are told is fantastic by a band of promoters while waiting in line at the TKTS booth?
I know that it was my first experience in the audience of a NY show that turned me on to the theatre and even solidified my decision that I would some day live in NY (which I do now). I think it's extremely unfortunate that other people could potentially not be allowed to have the same experience as I did.
Yes... maybe the OP was a little dramatic. But I also believe that this show could effect people in a negative way that none of you have even considered. I have been using the TKTS booth all my life and I refuse to give the promoters of "The Perfect Crime" any of my attention. I hope that everyone else will be able to do the same and, if needing advice on a show or what to see, will turn to some of the more honest employees who have steered me in the right direction so many times in the past.
Dantes
Broadway Star Joined: 10/11/09
#18Kind of sad...
Posted: 12/26/09 at 9:15am
I see people on here are as catty as ever
Thanks to the original poster for your thoughts on the show
Radioactiveduck
Broadway Star Joined: 7/18/05
#19Kind of sad...
Posted: 12/27/09 at 6:38am
Okay, but honestly...
HOW DID YOU NOT ALREADY KNOW THIS!?
I very much enjoy theatre, but I'm only 20 years old and have only seen a handful of Broadway shows and even I have heard several times over that Perfect Crime is just an unmitigatedly awful mess.
#20Kind of sad...
Posted: 12/27/09 at 7:12amAdd me to the "never heard of it" list
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
nmartin
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/3/05
Edward Frake
Swing Joined: 12/26/09
#23Kind of sad...
Posted: 12/27/09 at 10:14am
I was not intending to be "catty." I was stating how I truly feel about what is going on. Clearly there are a fair ammount of people who HAVE heard of the show and know to stay away... but there are also plenty who have not. I'm glad a thread like this has started so people can be in the know and then if they decide to see the show and form their own opinion... at least they were warned.
Updated On: 12/27/09 at 10:14 AM
robinycus2
Understudy Joined: 5/1/09
#24Kind of sad...
Posted: 12/27/09 at 3:50pm
I am dying to see this now. The comments and info online make me think this could be interesting. Also, the actor who played Tom Cudahy on All My Children for about 20 years is in it.
http://www.perfect-crime.com/
Updated On: 12/27/09 at 03:50 PM
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