Stage: Amazing Johnathan's Halloween Show

Bloody Amazing

By Barbara Scherzer

The Amazing Johnathan is a maniacal magician whose comedy routine combines the Three Stooges with a side order of deviance. For his favorite holiday--Halloween--AJ teasingly promises violence, nudity, bizarre behavior and a testicle-stretching contest. His bloody show delivers on most of these counts while provoking a lot of laughter.

As theater smoke spills across the stage, Johnathan screens his favorite horror movie scenes. The first, from A Nightmare on Elm Street, is a real charmer as we watch a man sink into his bed, disappear from sight and soon erupt into a geyser of blood. If that doesn't jump-start your churning stomach, maybe The Exorcist's hurling scene will. Next up is guest star Sophie Evans, who performs a brief variety spot before turning red.

Johnathan finally arrives to taunt and torture his hapless assistant, Psychic Tanya (Penny Wiggins). For the next hour, Johnathan performs his regular show interspersed with some Halloween tricks. Wiggins is over the top as a ditzy blonde and gamely abets his behavior. For their first gag, he covers her eyes in an unconventional manner and asks her to foresee the future. Then he hits her on the head hard with a microphone saying, "Some psychic, you didn't see that coming."

A first-time viewer to this show should be aware that Johnathan employs plenty of adult language. After selecting a male audience volunteer, they attempt to restore a $100 bill together. Johnathan instructs the man to make a fist "bigger than you're used to." Later, he asks his new assistant if he had ever helped a magician before...because "You're not fucking helping one now." A flying middle finger makes several guest appearances, as do many of the "forbidden" words from comic George Carlin's famed list.

A new bit features Wiggins as a karate master in which she successfully splits a board in two, then repeats the feat in slow motion and in reverse order. A trick using scary masks works well and is especially apropos for the holiday. Late in the show, Johnathan attempts to surprise us with his take on Dracula. When the production ends, more guilty pleasures await as several Halloween tableaux showcasing bloody body parts and captive women come to life. Amazing Johnathan's Halloween Show pulls no punches with its adult language and situations. Although there were a few technical problems in screening the film montage, overall it is a real scream.