Mind Mangler Off-Broadway Reviews

Some of the best parts of Mind Mangler involve breaking set pieces. When trying to bend a spoon, the mentalist’s efforts instead cause a microphone stand to curve, and a lighting rig to descend. (The spoon, however, remains intact). Another standout moment is when he tries — and fails — an escapology trick, leading to his decapitation not once, but twice. The two-hour show, directed by Hannah Sharkey, is too long for its good. (At the start of Act 2, the Mind Mangler says he’s been told intermission is a highlight of the show.) The eventual payoff of the mentalist’s tricks takes too long to be satisfying. And where other Mischief shows are family-friendly, this one features too many off-the-cuff curse words for kids. It might be best enjoyed by a stag party or friend group after a round or two of drinks

Lewis himself is so enjoyably goofy that his delightful presence helps cover for a lot of these hiccups. Sure, he and Sayer give basically the same performance in every Mischief show. But there is something comfortably familiar about the pair’s endless bickering and inevitable making up. One does feel in safe hands. Where the pair truly excel is in their interplay with the audience. By establishing upfront that the Mangler is a dolt, Mangler unlocks a particularly unhinged mania in its audience interaction. My crowd was heckling the Mangler one moment, then confessing dark secrets to him the next. Lewis controls these interactions expertly, and knows exactly where to tease out a bit and when to move on.

Mind Mangler provides a fair amount of entertainment; and if you bring the kids, so much the better as it provides them with adult (as opposed to juvenile) entertainment they can howl at and feel quite sophisticated. While this is not a kid’s show, the performance attended had a fair amount of the 6-to-19 set, who were not only altogether delighted but in some cases just about standing on their seats with joy. And you gotta love a show in which they bring out a ouija board and somehow call it a Luigi board.