The Perfect Crime - How is this still running?

Like the success of I LOVE YOU YOU'RE PERFECT NOW CHANGE, this one is an eternal mystery.

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She's the general manager, company manager, and theatre owner/manager. And I heard she was also a producer...

It can't be an expensive show to run, but yeah, the numbers are puzzling.

Like in real estate, the key is three words: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

The show has always been in theaters right in the heart of Times Square, usually a couple of blocks from TKTS, so it's an easy sell to unsuspecting tourists who see the sign "The Longest Running Play in New York" and take a chance.

They also have always had one or two people who work the TKTS line and are very good at convincing people to forgo their main choices and see Perfect Crime. You'd think word of mouth would have killed the damn thing by now -- though I've never bothered to see it, I've yet to hear of anyone who didn't hate it and most people walk out at intermission. But, somehow it just keeps going year after year -- now almost 20 years and counting.

There was a story on Catherine Russell -- star/general manager/house manager/producer -- a while back. She's apparently only missed something like 3 performances in 20 years (all to attend her sisters' weddings). So I guess as long as she wants to continue with it (and can deal with the inevitable dips and fluctuations at the box office), it'll keep going.

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Updated On: 3/21/07 at 06:27 PM

Hey ilov,

You should have been downstairs, I had a great time at The Fantasticks today.

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Catherine Russell is either in heaven or hell, depending on how she views her situation. But the audience is decidedly hot around the collar.

Actually Margo, I think her miss count is up to 4. And at least one of those absences was for the birth of her son.

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"Actually Margo, I think her miss count is up to 4. And at least one of those absences was for the birth of her son."

How could they afford the costume adjustments for 9 months?

Harold Pinter, close enough though.

I've never even heard of this show before. I suppose based off this thread it is a good thing!

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Updated On: 3/21/07 at 08:52 PM

Margo, that was hilarious.

Look at it this way: THE FANTASTICKS ran for 42 years and during the slower years played to a house with one person in the audience. Lore Noto wouldn't close the show. Russell is the same way. Ironic that they are playing in the same complex now.

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I'd never heard of this either, but I was looking at some of the articles on the website and this was what everyone involved had intended all along, a long running show in which Russell would be an actor-manager. Apparently she's got a zillion other jobs, but it said she makes nine hundred bucks a week from the show. It didn't say anything about her having a kid, though.

The whole experience sounds rather masturbatory, but more power to her, I guess.

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If we are talking about the same person, she also took our tickets when we saw it

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