Bristol Riverside Theatre heads into fall with a brand new interactive magic show. BRT is bringing award-winning mentalist Vinny DePonto’s virtual show Mental Amusements into audiences’ homes Sept. 24-26.
Two types of tickets are available. Front Row tickets ($50) put audiences right into the action; ticket holders can participate in the show and have their minds read. General Admission tickets ($35) allow audiences to watch the show and comment without being seen or heard.
“I have been wanting to work with Vinny for about two years now. I’ve seen a few of his shows and we’ve been talking about a number of pretty big projects,” said BRT producing director Amy Kaissar. “At some point, looking for things to do, I discovered that he had an online show he’d developed for the COVID era. So, being fans, we bought tickets and had a really fun evening. We made a night of it, set up the room for a show, got all the props we were supposed to gather, poured some wine, it was great! From there we started talking about bringing him to BRT.”
Mental Amusements is a brand new, interactive, virtual magic show brought by the award-winning mentalist DePonto. His mind-reading skills exhilarate and flabbergast audiences. Since DePonto can’t go to Coney Island, he’s bringing the carnival into audiences’ homes. By grabbing a ticket, audiences are granted admission into a carefully-crafted carnival of the mind, designed exclusively for the virtual stage. The show runs approximately 60 minutes.
“I’m a huge fan of magic and mentalists,” said Kaissar. “Some of my earliest theater memories were magic shows and the wonder of those experiences is truly no less now as an adult than it was then. I still don’t know how any of it is possible. All I can say is, it’s magic. I’m a believer.”
Throughout the fall and winter, BRT will roll out more online programming and shows. BRT recently announced a new set of fall classes that include everything from acting to playwriting to theater history. The theater is also looking at offering outdoor programming in the spring and is hoping to reopen its production of Cabaret that closed due to the pandemic.
Mental Amusements runs Sept. 24 and 25, at 7:30 p.m.; and Sept. 26, at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Tickets and more information are available at brtstage.org and 215-785-0100. More information about the show can also be found at mentalamusements.com
