Broadway World - Highly Recommended
"...Vinny DePonto is an extraordinarily engaging performer who, in front of a simple white backdrop, captivates the crowd like a bonafide vaudevillian. Audience-wide anxieties of participation dissipate as he engages in intimate conversation with everyone upon whom he calls, and he navigates a performance filled with surprising twists as a level-headed, friendly tour guide through a booby-trapped maze."
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...At the end of the day (or night), remember that Mindplay has fun with your mind but it still is a play. Written by DePonto and Josh Koenigsberg, the show skirts profundity, instead offering a few bon mots about how we let our brain play tricks on us. In the world of fake news, it’s surprising that our creators didn’t plunge deeper into our collective psyche. But that’s not what this fun show is going for. The Geffen has been great at taking its bankrolling one-person magic shows, and turning what could have been just a few great tricks into the magic of theater."
LA Splash - Recommended
"...MINDPLAY is an entertaining and thought-provoking production which raises more questions about how the mind functions than it answers. And perhaps that was also the show’s message – that the mind may be too complex to be easily categorized."
Total Theater - Somewhat Recommended
"...Even so, the 80-minute show has plenty of enjoyable moments, especially when DePonto employs special effects (a wall of safe deposit boxes comes alive as he guesses what memories each contains). And there is no doubt that he knows how to work an audience in a likable fashion, even as he’s shedding light on darkest secrets."
Stage Raw - Recommended
"...It’s been over 10 years since I last saw a mentalist perform. I participated in the show at the time but in the end I was disappointed. My experience at Mindplay — which incorporates a narrative, as opposed to none — was different. However, because of the nature of the material, I am bound not to be too specific, so as to leave the evening a mystery. But if you’re curious, even a little, follow it and let that lead you to this unique experience."
Ticket Holders LA - Highly Recommended
"...There's a certain kind of formulaic thread that runs through any performance by magicians and mentalists, a guarantee that there will be baffling and mind-blowing twists and turns, whether they be visual or tactile. It's not exactly that the world premiere of Vinny DePonto's Mindplay is all that unique, but the fact that as a performer he presents it so seductively and with such engaging unpretentiousness is the key to its success."
Larchmont Buzz - Recommended
"...You’ll also like the process of trying to figure out the secrets behind the mindreading and memory tricks. That’s part of what drives you as an audience member. Yes, it’s coming in clearly now: you should go to Mindplay."
Theatrely - Recommended
"...All told, Mindplay is an entertaining evening filled with exciting audience interaction and fun tricks of mentalism. DePonto is adept at working the room, and has even the nonbelievers eating out of the palm of his hand."
