The Mouse is Still in the House

Today, once again (and again and again...) marks the anniversary of when Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap opened on London's West End.  That was on November 25, 1952 -- 72 years ago today.  It's still running, after 29,547 performances.

By way of comparison, not long ago Phantom of the Opera closed as the longest-ever running production in Broadway history.  It ran for 13,981 performances, over the course of 35 years.  If it hadn't closed and played for another 35 years…it still would be short of The Mousetrap.  And that's if The Mousetrap closed tomorrow.

Even the longest-running show in New York, off-Broadway's musical The Fantasticks, which had a remarkable run of 42 years and 17,162 performances fell far short, just over half as long.  And again, The Mousetrap is still running.  

I have a theory about that.  At some point long ago, it stopped by just a long-running play and instead become a tourist attraction, a stop to make when in London.

As a kidling, I saw The Mousetrap on a family trip to Europe in 1966, the play's 14th year.  A couple years later on another family trip, I picked up a poster which I have up on my walls.

At the time, I was a little sorry that the poster had as many years as "16."  Little did I know how paltry that number would be.

A couple of fun tidbits about that first production in 1952.  One of the actors in the play was Richard Attenborough, who of course went on to great fame as an actor (in such movies as The Great Escape and Jurassic Park), but even greater fame as a director, winning an Oscar for Gandhi.

And also, when Agatha Christie signed a contract to give away the movie rights, it was under the condition that no movie of it would be made until after the play closed.  That was 72 years ago.  So far...