Review: Mind Mangler Entertains More With Laughs Than With Magic

A few minutes into Mind Mangler, now running at New World Stages, we realize that the “night of tragic illusion” we’re about to see is going to be pretty ridiculous. The Mind Mangler (Henry Lewis) claims to be a “human lie detector” and “an expert at premonitions.” But after a few failed attempts to read the minds of audience members, we start to suspect that Lewis, who is also one of the show’s co-writers, has more of a spoof of a magic show in store for us.

That should come as no surprise once you learn that Mind Mangler is the work of Mischief, the company that brought two zany send-ups of the theater, Peter Pan Goes Wrong and The Play That Goes Wrong, to Broadway (the latter is also running at New World Stages). Lewis and his co-star Jonathan Sayer, who plays Steve the “stooge,” pack nonstop laughs into a breathlessly funny two-hour show that, yes, does occasionally feature a magic trick that actually works.

Writers Lewis, Sayer, and Henry Shields give the Mind Mangler an appropriately shlubby backstory. He’s been having a rough time while touring his show around the States. He’s broke, going through a messy divorce, and has a vengeful sister-in-law who makes his posters and maliciously tweaks the names of his shows (thus the “tragic” of the title). He’s as sad sack as you can get, but he takes his magic very seriously. You can tell from his jacket and pocket square (costumes by Roberto Surace) and from the UK Magic Society medal around his neck.

Director Hannah Sharkey plays up the mock seriousness of the Mind Mangler’s persona with high-drama stage effects, such as spotlights that sweep the audience (lighting by David Howe) and bursts of rapid decrescendos (music by Steve Brown and sound design by Helen Skiera) between scenes. Steve the Stooge, who wears a shirt that reads “Audience Participant,” injects doofiness into the proceedings as the Laurel to Lewis’s Hardy. Together they have impeccable comedic rapport. A bit where Steve accidentally hypnotizes the Mangler and gets him to (inexplicably) bark like a penguin is one of the show’s highlights.

The audience plays a big part in the action as well. At the beginning everyone is told to write their names and a deep dark secret on a card. Later an audience member reads a name, the secret-bearer stands up, and the Mind Mangler tries to guess the secret with a series of questions that supposedly cause subtle reactions in the person that reveal the answer. If you’re prone to believing that this is possible, you may find your mind duly mangled. But if you squint hard enough, you can probably figure out how he does it.

That’s not to say that some of the acts don’t impress. One involving a guillotine is a real jaw-dropper. But in the end, Lewis seems less interested in wowing us with his skills of illusion and uncanny perception than in getting us to laugh — and he does, big time. That’s the real magic.