Mephisto is the main antagonist of Life And Trust NYC.
He’s a trickster, seducer, conjurer, and manipulator controlling all of the inhabitants of Life And Trust Bank and Conwell Tower. He does so either directly or through the workings of his demonic agents, the Liliths.
Mephisto moves about in a tailcoat tuxedo, but he wears a tight-fitting corset in place of a shirt. Around his neck is a collar-choker-necklace accented with a cameo.
The official description of Mephisto in the Gilded Net, the official newspaper (and program guide) of Conwell Tower and Life And Trust NYC, describes Mephisto as the following:
A Houdini-esque escape artist, magician, and master of disguise. A supernatural, anarchic, amoral trickster with an insatiable appetite for chaos. And tonight, he’s ready to seize the immortal soul of J.G. Conwell…
I followed Mephisto for the majority of his first loop during my third visit to Life And Trust NYC on 13 November 2024.
Read my observations and insights below.
(Please Note: I did my best to recreate the order and details of Mephisto’s character loop and scenes, but my memory is fallible and certain details might be incorrect. Additionally, this loop summary is not complete.)
Initial Scene: Mephisto’s Advice To Officer Harold
Mephisto (Kevin M. Pajarillaga) starts his first loop outside the American Protection Agency, near the missing persons board.
Mephisto offers advice to Officer Harold (Tony Bordonaro) to search for one of the missing women on the board by pointing to her photo and leaving.
(Note: I did not see this scene. Rather, I found this information on the community Google doc breaking down the show’s character loops.)
Scene Transition: Mephisto Greets An Old Friend, Now Reborn
Mephisto moves upstairs to the J.G. Conwell & Co. Pharmacy, where he finds a nude J.G. Conwell (Collin Baja) comatose on top of the storefront counter. Before Mephisto’s arrival, Conwell emerged as naked as a newborn babe from the Nest and walked through the green-glowing Magic Forest, both behind the pharmacy.
Mephisto’s presence causes Conwell to come alive, and he looks in a nearby mirror; Conwell marvels at his young appearance. The new pact Conwell made at the beginning of the show with the Lilith, Megaera (Tori Sparks), worked. Conwell was successfully sent back in time to the year 1894 for one night.
Conwell appears happy to see Mephisto, as if they are old friends. They engage in some friendly dancing as Conwell dresses himself. Their reunion is broken up by a rampaging Valentin (Jacob Michael Warren), however, as he storms into the pharmacy demanding more Conwell’s Cough Syrup, a potent emerald-green potion brewed to cure all worldly problems. Valentin and Conwell engage in an angry dance where Conwell defends Mephisto.
But Mephisto stops the fight by giving Valentin what he wants—a single bottle of Conwell’s Cough Syrup. Valentin stumbles out, and Mephisto directs Conwell into the back of the pharmacy.
Scene Transition: Conwell’s Alchemical Legacy
Mephisto reintroduces Conwell to the legacy that gave him his wealth—the alchemical lab where he cracked the code of Conwell’s Cough Syrup.
Mephisto and Conwell leave the lab, pass through the green-flowing Magic Forest where Conwell likely originally harvested the supernatural ingredients of his syrup.
(It’s worth noting that in my original review of Life And Trust NYC, I commented on the Magic Forest likely representing the exchange of knowledge from Mephisto to Conwell. It’s likely the forest is not literally magically, but rather speaks metaphorically of the secret knowledge and powers unlocked from nature.
For example, many of the demons of the Goetia are teachers. These spirits were summoned by the sorcerers of old to grant special knowledge—the most famous being King Solomon. Insight into medicine, herbs, and alchemy are common demonic specialties.
The ancient Greeks also viewed herbal drugs (pharmaka) and magic as interchangeable; its discovery was typically accredited to the goddess of witchcraft, Hecate. The psychopomp and messenger god of commerce and communication, Hermes, also had formidable knowledge of pharmaka. And the witchcraft of Circe (mostly) and Medea (completely) was tied to the use of pharmaka.)
From there they pass through the Conwell estate, where Mephisto shows Conwell the opulence and luxury the syrup has bought him.
Scene Transition: A Not-So-Happy Family Reunion
Mephisto leads J.G. Conwell up to the ballroom where he meets with his beloved sister, Naima Conwell (Mia DiLena), and his estranged brother, Basil Conwell (Nando Morland). They have a family reunion over tea as Mephisto observes.
Some trickery is in order.
The scene glows with a haunting emerald-green light as time freezes. Mephisto moves around his subjects, positioning them in ways to start a dispute. He places a vial in Naima’s hand. He withdraws (enlistment?) papers from Basil’s coat and places them in the young artist’s hand for Conwell to see.
Mephisto releases his supernatural grip, the green light fades, and chaos breaks out. J.G. Conwell argues with Basil. Naima grows forlorn and drinks from the vial.
Mephisto is pleased with himself and leaves the ballroom, heading back downstairs into the dreamscape streets of old New York as they manifest in Life And Trust Bank.
Scene Transition: A Magician And His Apprentice
Mephisto moves his way through the darkened streets of New York outside the opulent Conwell estate. He turns to one of his masked followers—me in this instance.
Mephisto stares at me with his two heterochromatic eyes—one black and one white—before smiling and pulling me closer. He removes a chain from the wall, twirls it around, and then wraps it around my wrist and leading me along like a dog on a leash.
We pass by some apartments where young paupers argue; Mephisto taps on the glass and laughs without stopping.
He leads me into the Vaudeville Theater (possibly called the Velvet Curtain or Velvet Arcade, based on clues found in the Gilded Net), releases me from the chain, and invites me to sit in an aisle seat near the front.
Mephisto begins performing a magic act as he’s met by a curious young woman named Sybil (Gabriella Sibeko). She engages in a stage-performance dance with Mephisto and the chain. Eventually, Mephisto wraps the chain around Sibyl’s neck gently before releasing her. Is he now in control of her?
They leave the theater together before parting.
Scene Transition: Dancing With The Devil
Mephisto moves downstairs toward the boxing ring where he meets Conwell and Valentin. Conwell is taking bets with Stanford as the tall and brawny Valentin gets into the ring with Mephisto.
Despite their size difference, Valentin never lands a punch on his opponent. Mephisto lands every one. The two engage in a spectacular performance of slow-motion fighting and dancing as the ring lights flash and flare.
Eventually Conwell wants his own go as Valentin, and they switch places. Valentin is no match for either one of his dealers, and he leaves defeated. And Mephisto leaves for a reprieve.
Scene Transition: The Temple Of Alexandria
Mephisto finds a reprieve in the obelisk temple of the Alexandria Club. Here he engages in a hypnotic solo dance while hanging from one of the astrolabe-styled lamps suspended from above.
The performance ends when Dorian Gray (Charles-Alexis Desgagnés) enters, who Mephisto was seemingly waiting for. The two have a push-pull performance atop the piano in the room, which Mephisto enchants to play on its own.
Mephisto and Dorian move outside into the halls where they part from one another and Mephisto makes his way into the bowels of Conwell Tower.
Scene Transition: Blood And Sweat
Deep in the mining operation of Life And Trust Bank, Mephisto finds the Italian immigrants Marco (Luca Renzi) and Farouk (Alonzo Guzman).
The three engage in a dance as they hang from the overhead piping in front of the massive industrial fans. After, the two men show Mephisto the fruits of their labors—mined ore. Mephisto takes it and taints it with a vial of a blood-red substance.
He then admires their printing press that’s minting many (counterfeit?) bills.
Scene Transition: Freeing An Old Friend
Mephisto finds his way into the jail cell outside the American Protection Agency, where Sybil lays weak and despondent.
She need not worry, though, because Mephisto has plans for her.
He begins a dance around the bars, gesturing at her with his waving fingers. With every motion he makes, Sybil’s body supernaturally reacts like a puppet, and Mephisto is the puppeteer. (This scene is reminiscent of Dracula animating Lucy’s unconscious body in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.)
Mephisto enchants Sybil, causing her to wretch up from her throat the key to her cell, which she uses to escape.
The pair moves onto the main stretch of Destiny Park, where they dance on the white-vault stage before moving into Palladino’s House of Spirits. Mephisto deals a hand of Tarot cards for Sybil, foretelling her future, before he leaves.
(It is fun to note that the show uses the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot deck, but this deck was not published until 1909. The events of Life And Trust NYC take place in 1894. It’s a small oversight, and an understandable one since the Rider-Waite-Smith deck is fully illustrated (both the major and minor arcana) and the most visually accessible for audiences.)
Scene Transition: “The Devil Comes As Everything You Ever Wished For”
Mephisto crosses paths with his protege, J.G. Conwell, as they make their way downstairs, returning to the low levels of Life And Trust Bank.
Life And Trust NYC makes use of the large open stairwells of Conwell Tower (20 Exchange Place in our reality) to perform narrative dances as characters move from floor to floor toward major scenes.
Here Conwell is falling more and more under the seductive spell of Mephisto. They pin each other against the wall in a display of yearning and lust.
Eventually Mephisto and Conwell meet Evelyn (Victoria DeRenzo) and Isis (Ryan VanCompernolle) in the subterranean realm of Dorian Gray, where they all give in to the will of Mephisto and revel in an orgy.
Pleased with himself, Mephisto leaves the mortals to their pleasures.
Scene Transition: Do We Have A Deal?
Mephisto has his eye on yet another soul—this time it is Stanford’s, the founder of the occult Alexandria Club.
Mephisto lures Stanford upstairs, waving a contract at Stanford (Raymond Ejiofor) as he ascends the stairs. Stanford is always falling behind and forever desperate to get his hands on the contract.
They eventually land in the inverted obelisk temple of the Alexandria Club where Mephisto pulls out a ceremonial dagger from a hidden compartment in the central altar. Mephisto presents the contract to Stanford, and they engage in a desperate dance. Mephisto is in control the entire time.
Around the room are alcoves housing golden urns with the names of the souls trapped in Life And Trust Bank. As the deal between Mephisto and Stanford reaches its crescendo, emerald-green light shines down on the urns, glowing brighter and brighter as Stanford makes his final choice.
When the deal is finally struck, Mephisto slashes Stanford’s hand and places the contract of the introverted obelisk. The obelisk flashes and pulses with light as Stanford smears his blood on the contract, sealing his pact with Mephisto.
Mephisto leaves the temple gleefully, and hands the contract to one of his audience followers before disappearing behind a door.
(After this, I lost track of Mephisto until the ballroom scene at the end of the first loop.)
Scene Transition: “Let’s Break Out The Booze And Have A Ball…”
J.G. Conwell hosts a ball where the various souls of Life And Trust Bank convene.
But as they all dance, the party is periodically interrupted by the power of Mephisto and the Liliths. Time freezes as the room glows emerald green.
As this happens, J.G. Conwell looks upon everyone at the ball, and he realizes that nothing has changed despite his attempt to set things right by traveling back in time to 1894.
His final deal with Mephisto was seemingly in vain.
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Tickets for Life And Trust NYC are on sale now.
Some images used in this essay are modified screenshots from the Life And Trust NYC promotional trailer found on YouTube.
Other images were found on various websites and are credited to photographers Stephanie Crousillat and Jane Kratochvil.
This review contains affiliate links.
