'The Illusionists': Rehashing Old-School 'Magic'

THE GREAT ESCAPE: Andrew Basso in ‘The Illusionists–Witness The Impossible.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

THE MANIPULATOR: Yu Ho-Jin of ‘The Illusionists-Witness the Impossible.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

THE ILLUSIONISTS—WITNESS THE IMPOSSIBLE
By Various Performers
Directed & choreographed by Neil Doward
Through January 4, 2015
Marquis Theatre
1535 Broadway
(877-250-2929), www.TheIllusionistsLive.com

By Scott Harrah

At times, watching The Illusionists—Witness the Impossible feels like being trapped inside a “heavy metal” music video from the 1980s, complete with strobe lights, cheesy music, hokey fog, bad haircuts, silly makeup and preposterous costumes. However, this is what used to be called a “magic show,” in the far more innocent era before the Internet, YouTube and digital effects. What’s more, the show is actually on Broadway for the holiday season, for a six-week New York run before touring 30 U.S. cities.

Equal parts Las Vegas spectacle, reality TV show and the aforementioned metal video, The Illusionists features performers from around the world. Essentially, this is a glitzy, expensive rehashing of yesteryear’s “magic,” from disappearing doves and card tricks to a corny “escape” from a Houdini-style water tank. If you are old enough to remember “The Ed Sullivan Show” or a rich kid’s birthday party in the 1970s, you’ve seen this all before. If you ever watched any of the “Magic Secrets Explained” TV documentaries or surfed similar websites, exposing the tricks of David Copperfield, David Blaine, Criss Angel and Penn and Teller, you already know none of this is “impossible.”

Despite the unremarkable “magic,” everything is still consistently entertaining, particularly the hosts. Especially noteworthy is Jeff Hobson, “the Trickster,” a man who sports a sequined tuxedo and shoes and channels the late Liberace, Wayland Flowers and Paul Lynde with his campy humor and audience participation. Despite some raunchy innuendo that gets laughs from the adults, he’s harmless fun and family-friendly.

The show itself is hit and miss. We have Aaron Crow, introduced as “The Warrior” from Belgium, clad in what appears to be some Vivienne Westwood castoff costume from TV’s “Game of Thrones.” He doesn’t speak and poses a lot (as do many in the show), inviting a couple from the audience onstage to assist with some lame antics with an apple (don’t ask), and uses a crossbow.

In addition, there is “The Anti-Conjuror” Dan Sperry, a dude dressed mostly in black, looking like a goth-punk fusion of Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson and the Cure’s Robert Smith. His purported claim to fame is a 2010 appearance on “America’s Got Talent.” His first feat is rather disgusting: Using dental floss to retrieve a Lifesaver from his throat. He later invites an audience member onstage to play a game of Russian Roulette with a broken glass bottle.

One of the biggest—and silliest—acts is “The Escapologist,” Andrew Basso, introduced as “Italy’s star escape artist,” who has always idolized Harry Houdini. There are even projections of old Houdini photos and newspaper headlines, in case anyone doesn’t know who the man was. Mr. Basso does the “death-defying” escape from a “water torture cell,” complete with a ticky-tacky “countdown” clock on the stage, but haven’t we seen Criss Angel and countless others do this on so many Travel Channel specials about Las Vegas?

“The Inventor,” Kevin James, a jolly fellow who, like Mr. Crow, is also clad in ersatz “Game of Thrones” men’s wear, brings a surreal touch to the show with a midget, kooky women striking poses, and does the old sawing-a-man-in-half trick.

“The Futurist,” Adam Trent, has fun with a forgettable card trick with a young boy volunteer from the audience, and later does “futuristic” illusions by dancing with morphed, multiplied images of himself. Michael Jackson probably did something similar in an MTV video 30 years ago and it would have been “cool” back then, but this now just seems like old hat.

Finally, much fanfare is made about “The Manipulator” Yu Ho-Jin, a South Korean magician who strikes many elegant poses and does more card tricks, He was named 2014’s “Magician of the Year” by the Academy of Magical Arts, and he brings a sense of class to the show.

The show has sold out most of the English-speaking world already. It debuted in Australia at the Sydney Opera House in 2012 and went on to tour in New Zealand and later the United Kingdom. The Illusionists—Witness the Impossible is engaging and amusing enough to satisfy audiences hungry for holiday family fare because kids will love all the glossy visual and technical effects, and there is no doubt the show will be a crowd-pleasing hit when it tours the USA. However, anyone expecting new or innovative “illusions” might be disappointed because this is essentially that proverbial old-school magic with a colorful 21^st century makeover—retooled, revamped and digitized to sell to the masses.