‘The Illusionists—Magic of the Holidays’

“THE ILLUSIONISTS—MAGIC OF THE HOLIDAYS’:(left to right) Colin Cloud, Chloe Crawford, Adam Trent, Darcy Oake & Shin Lim. Photo: Joan Marcus

THE ILLUSIONISTS—MAGIC OF THE HOLIDAYS
By Various Performers
Directed & choreographed by Neil Doward
Through December 30, 2018
Marquis Theatre
1535 Broadway
(877-250-2929), www.TheIllusionistsLive.com

By Scott Harrah

The Illusionists has arrived on Broadway for the fourth time since 2014 with their latest installment, Magic of the Holidays. This seasonal “magic” show is a cross between a Las Vegas-style spectacle and reality TV (since one of the stars, card-trick master Shin Lim, is the 2018 “America’s Got Talent” winner), featuring international performers from England, Scotland, Canada, the U.S. and Light Balance, a delightful hip-hop dance troupe from the Ukraine.

Like previous iterations of The Illusionists, this is a glitzy repackaging of yesteryear’s “magic,” from appearing and disappearing dove acts and card tricks to a “mentalist” extracting personal information from audience members in an attempt to appear clairvoyant. If you are old enough to remember “The Ed Sullivan Show” or have seen the “Magic Secrets Explained” TV documentaries, exposing the tricks of David Copperfield, David Blaine, Criss Angel and Penn and Teller, you know everything here is nothing new and truly more “illusion” and gimmickry than “magic.”

Five headlining performers are featured in the two-act show. “The Futurist,” Adam Trent, originally seen in the first 2014 show, returns, this time as the host and emcee. Mr. Trent is best known for his hit Netflix series “The Road Trick,” and his moniker “The Future” has nothing to do with ESP. He’s best at doing “futuristic” illusions by dancing with morphed, multiplied images of himself on a projected screen; he did the same thing four years ago on the Marquis stage. Fans of the late Michael Jackson might contend that Mr. Trent ripped off this high-tech trick from one of the Gloved One’s classic MTV videos, but it’s a visual treat nonetheless. One of the most fun segments with Mr. Trent involves him asking everyone to turn on their smartphones for some performer-crowd participation, and this was a big hit with the iPhone-obsessed millennial audience members.

The best-known performer is Shin Lim, the 2018 “America’s Got Talent” winner. He’s handsome, charming and strikes lots of elegant poses while doing “sleight of hand” card tricks. With the help of a cameraman onstage, we see many close-ups of his card tricks on various projections screens. This is lots of fun if one enjoys card tricks, and everything is seamlessly choreographed by director Neil Doward, but wears thin after awhile.

Equally winsome is Colin Cloud, “The Deductionist” from Scotland. With his lilting brogue, the Scottish sensation practices “mentalism” and invites folks onstage to extract personal details about them and guess their favorite celebrity. Due to audience participation and the lack of understanding his directions—perhaps this is part of the act—these foibles and stage snafus are often funnier than his purported mental telepathy.

The two most Vegas-style performers include Canadian Darcy Oake (“The Grand Illusionist”) and Englishwoman Chloe Crawford (“The Sorceress”).

Mr. Oake is a muscular, tattooed guy with a shaved head, and his pretty-boy looks soften his imposing presence. He appears and disappears a lot, and also does some magic-show standard tricks with doves.

“The Sorceress” Ms. Crawford, with her tight dress, stiletto heels, blonde-bombshell showgirl appearance, posh British accent and bubbly personality, looks and sounds remarkably like she could be Australian singer Kylie Minogue’s English cousin. However, Ms. Crawford is perhaps the least impressive of the acts. She asks a male to come onstage as her “dinner date” and devours razor blades and then pulls them out on a string. Her second feat is appearing to push a piece of what looks like dental floss into her neck. This is a trick some may remember from the 2014 show, when Dan Sperry, a Goth-punk “illusionist,” did a similar endeavor with a string to retrieve a Lifesaver candy from his throat.

One of the show’s highlights is Light Balance, a Ukrainian dance troupe. Grooving in sync in the dark to the funky sounds of Bruno Mars and other neo-funk artists, the dancers wear neon and Day-Glo suits with lights, creating two spectacular segments in both the first and second act. Like Mr. Trent’s “futuristic” video dances, Light Balance’s act also looks like something we may have seen before in a 1980s music video, but it is still visually appealing.

The Illusionists shows have never been exactly original, but they have mass appeal for tourists during the holidays and obviously have enough of an audience to keep returning to Broadway each December. The evening is simply mindless, entertaining fun and amusing enough to satisfy anyone hungry for seasonal family fare.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published December 2, 2018
Reviewed at November 29, 2018 press performance.

“THE ILLUSIONISTS—MAGIC OF THE HOLIDAYS’: Light Balance. Photo: Joan Marcus

“THE ILLUSIONISTS—MAGIC OF THE HOLIDAYS’: Colin Cloud. Photo: Joan Marcus.

“THE ILLUSIONISTS—MAGIC OF THE HOLIDAYS’: Darcy Oake. Photo: Joan Marcus

“THE ILLUSIONISTS—MAGIC OF THE HOLIDAYS’: Chloe Crawford. Photo: Joan Marcus

“THE ILLUSIONISTS—MAGIC OF THE HOLIDAYS’: Light Balance. Photo: The Illusionists