Mentalist Vinny DePonto delves into people’s memories in Mindplay (photo by Chris Ruggiero)
MINDPLAY
Greenwich House Theater
27 Barrow St. at Seventh Ave. South
Thursday – Tuesday through April 20, $49-$159
mindplaynyc.com
“What’s on your mind?” Vinny DePonto asks at the beginning of his latest show, Mindplay, quoting the prompt that appears when people open Facebook. There’s a lot on DePonto’s mind, clearly, including family history, grief, and the nature of memory. Although the New York City–based mentalist and magician performs dazzling tricks during the ninety-minute production, it doesn’t quite cohere into a solid, thoroughly composed play — but you may not care if you’re a fan of onstage magic.
When DePonto was six years old, his father discovered a dusty box of magic tricks belonging to his own father, and DePonto was hooked. Ever since, in such presentations as the Drama Desk–nominated Charlatan, Mysterious Delights, and the virtual Mental Amusements, DePonto has mesmerized audiences with his remarkable abilities, all fully evident in Mindplay, which continues at the Greenwich House Theater through April 20.
On the way in, everyone is invited to write a thought on a slip of paper, put it in an envelope, and drop it in a fishbowl. DePonto occasionally reaches in and pulls one out to begin a new segment, each of which brings the writer of the thought onstage to participate in multiple ways, including having their mind read. He also incorporates balloons, a Shakespeare compendium, a rotary phone, and other props to carry out tricks that will leave you scratching your head in wonder.
Vinny DePonto wants to know what’s on your mind at the Greenwich House Theater (photo by Chris Ruggiero)
But as a theater piece, Mindplay, written by DePonto and Josh Koenigsberg and directed by Andrew Neisler (The Elementary Spacetime Show, The Gray Man), fails to find a narrative flow; it feels more like a nightclub act, albeit an entertaining one. In the second half, when DePonto reveals what’s behind the curtain — the set is by Sibyl Wickersheimer — too many conceptual threads get in the way and the prestidigitation gets lost as DePonto talks about the possibilities of the brain, rummages through metal drawers, and uses a cassette tape deck to look into his past.
Geography is also on his mind, and it was difficult to figure out the night I went whether a few coincidences were accidental or planted, forcing us to think too much about the result instead of gasping at how the trick got there. (DePonto explains early on that there are absolutely no plants.) For comparison, in the spring of 2023 magician and corporate mentalist Asi Wind’s Inner Circle at Judson Theatre was able to create a compelling investigation into identity, individuality, and the human condition by letting the cards tell the story. In Mindplay, DePonto tries to share something bigger than just entertaining magic but just misses the mark.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]