On the bill since 1987, New York’s oldest plays, Perfect Crime, is already back on the stage, ahead of Broadway which will wait until September.
She owes it to the energy of Catherine Russell, who has played the same role more than 13,500 times and carries her theater at arm’s length. “I’m very determined, and when people say to me: you can’t do this. I tell them, Go show you. Watch me do it.”
Main actress of Perfect Crime (perfect crime) but also manager of the Theater Center where the play is being performed, Catherine Russell, 65, is “a dynamo”, as described by Charles Geyer, who shares the stage with her. “I can do 180 push-ups in a row”, she says.
When it was necessary to suspend performances due to a pandemic, in March 2020, the actress had no moods. She took care of repainting the theater, repairing a few seats and buying a ventilation system. “Covid-compatible”.
More “when I saw that the bowling alleys were reopening (end of August), I said to myself: it’s crazy“. She has taken New York City to court to obtain the reopening of the theaters. The governor has, since the beginning of March, authorized a reopening at 25% of capacity, then 33% but Catherine Russell continues her action to obtain at least 50 %.
On April 9, she reopened the Theater Center, with first performances of a musical inspired by the series. The Office, then the resumption of Perfect Crime, which she played on April 17 for the 13,524th time, world record.
“A lot of people didn’t feel ready” both on Broadway and off-Broadway, the circuit of small-gauge theaters, explains Catherine Russell. “But I thought we were ready. (…) I don’t think I’m a Girl Scout. Maybe I’m just a little less scared than others but I also have less to lose. am a little off-Broadway show. ” “We are losing money”, recognizes the 60-year-old, and even a switch to 50% gauge might not be enough to strike a balance, an equation that deterred Broadway from reopening in the immediate future. “But we’re determined, and I want to do it in principle.”
The Theater Center has obtained the green light from the main performing arts union, Actors’ Equity, subject to the obligation of vaccination for the entire team, which must also be tested every evening before the show. For Perfect Crime, classic detective enigma matured with a hint of psychology, the current period is the occasion of a little free publicity whereas the play is usually drowned in the bloated offer of Broadway.
The spectators, they are there and the room is full, 66 people against 200 in normal configuration, according to the producer, Armand Hyatt.
Susan Jacknowitz, 75, traveled from North Carolina to see the play with her friend from New York, Linda Schiffer. “When she texted me to tell me she had had theater tickets, I couldn’t believe it. I was so happy.” A fan of the theater, Jessica Bloom had already passed the Theater Center dozens of times, near Times Square, but had never stopped. “I want to see the first thing that will get me into a theater even if I don’t even know what it’s about”, she says.
Actor Charles Geyer remembers him at a premiere “fantastic”, “because we knew the people in the room were kind of pioneers”. The impression did not leave him during the following performances. “We have the feeling of forming a group”, with actors and spectators. “It goes beyond a simple night at the theater.”
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