"Magic show" is probably underselling things. When I think "magic show", my mind travels back to hazy memories of Cub Scout banquets and junior high assemblies. The picture is a bit fuzzy, but I'm sensing...The Great Chezaday!
If you grew up in the Naperville area in the 80s, chances are that you have seen Chezaday in action. I don't remember very much about the show other than the sawing-a-woman-in-half section and the fact that Chez and his assistant were always decked out in something sparkly and possibly silver. This was probably my first experience with a real live stage magic act.
At any rate, I really do love magic. I remember watching Penn and Teller's "Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends" at a friend's house when I was 8 or 9. I particularly remember being duped by the "Super Kleener" bit.
On some level, that's what's fun right? Deceiving others is fun but it's also fun to be willingly - or actually unwillingly in this case - deceived. I take that back, it's probably not that fun to be unwillingly deceived. It's fun in retrospect. I digress.
I've never been big on breaking things down to their small bits or taking joy in the "oh that's so SIMPLE, THAT'S how they're doing it" aspect of watching magic. Mostly I like to be transported to a place where even though I KNOW I'm being deceived, even though I KNOW it's not "real", I don't care. It's magic to me.
In this vein, close-up magic - card manipulation, etc - is probably my favorite genre. The idea of an artist doing things with his / her hands with such shocking speed and dexterity blows me away. It really is magic. Back to Penn and Teller - "The Cups and Balls".
I mean, they're using clear cups. You can see everything they're doing. They tell you everything that they're going to do and when they do it, it's so seemingly effortless and amazing that it still looks like magic.
So who is Derren Brown and how does he fit into all of this? For the uninitiated, Derren is a magician, illusionist, sleight-of-hand-artist, mentalist, showman, and renowned parrot enthusaist. I think that I originally stumbled upon him whilst listening to the old XFM Ricky / Steve / Karl shows.
He also did an American version of his UK TV series "Mind Control" which appeared on SyFy.
This is a very old clip - great hair! - but anyway, I was hooked and went back and watched pretty much all of the TV series and specials and everything I could find. It was the stage shows that really got me.
They really are fantastic. He does such a wonderful job of presenting these illusions / tricks / manipulations in a fun / memorable / sometimes creepy / always amazing way. Derren really is an amazing showman / performer, and these performances highlight his skills wonderfully, specifically the way that he can control a room. So for many years I have wished for a US tour that never materialized.
Now as I live in Denmark, it's easy to hop on over to jolly old England and catch a performance and I am very much looking forward to "Infamous".
That is - however - the only plan we really have. We have both been to London before and have visited the more popular tourist attractions. So, I ask you loyal reader...what would you do on a long weekend in London? What would you eat? Where would you go?
I almost forgot, how could I fill an entire post with stuff about magic and not include this?
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