Champions of Magic
Magicians have been around for centuries performing their feats of prestidigitation around the globe. Magicians (or anyone who performs some sort of magical feat) have been featured in literature, on stage, in films and TV shows. David Copperfield became a household name for his huge illusions and produced a series of popular TV specials with bigger and better illusions with each show. Siegfried & Roy were a destination appointment for anyone who visited Las Vegas. Audiences have been and will always be fascinated by magical illusions they can see live on stage, right before their very eyes. One show that has been traveling the country, The Illusionists, is one of those shows packed with major illusions and interesting characters. Now we have a new show touring the country (and Canada), Champions of Magic, a title which the magicians themselves admits makes no sense because no one really knows who they are and no one crowned them champions.
Champions of Magic has a similar premise as The Illusionists — several magicians will interact with each other and the audience, and then they will get their own solo bits throughout the show. There are four magicians here — Fernando Velasco, Liberty Larsen, and the duo of Young and Strange — and once they are introduced they try to one-up each other with some close-up magic that the audience can see with the aid of giant video screens on stage. As the show progresses, the illusions do get bigger but despite the spectacle in the second act, many of the illusions performed are not new (and depending on your angle of view from the stage, you can clearly see some of the technical sleight of hand at work, which is unfortunate).
It’s clear right from the outset that Young and Strange are the stars of the show as they pretty much take over the opening and pop into one of Fernando’s first big stage illusions involving Harry Houdini’s one hundred year old handcuffs. We’ll get back to that duo in a moment. As for Velasco, aside from the handcuffs illusion, he does a bit of close-up magic (like the old threading a needle that he’d just swallowed trick) and one major straightjacket escape trick in the second half of the show, complete with fire and a ton of pyrotechnics. Velasco is a personable enough guy and the two stage illusions he does are impressive enough, but he needs to amp up the showmanship as much as that escape has amped up the pyro.
Liberty Larsen has a few bits in the first half of the show, but the one she does in the audience seems rather easy to figure out. She participates in the group illusion at the end of the first half of the show (which involves the appearance of a famous singer), and her big moment in the second half is more of a tribute to her grandparents, who were the founders of the famous yet secretive Magic Castle, an exclusive haven for magicians near and far. With her pedigree, one would hope for some major illusions, but her set in Act 2 involves some rather simple tricks including a quick change (into a dress that is nothing like the one she shows the audience), dancing with a cane, and making a candle change from red to white, something that almost goes unnoticed because it’s a small illusion and she’s pretty far back on the stage in a set that is supposed to resemble her grandparents’ home library. It’s all fine, but is it enough for a show in which she has to compete with three other magicians with large-scale illusions?
Champions of Magic
As mentioned, the stars of the show are Young and Strange, childhood friends who shared an interest in magic and have parlayed it into an occupation. They obviously love the spotlight and have a lot of stage presence and personality. Even in the group acts in the first half of the show, they end up stealing the spotlight. They also get the bulk of the time in the second half of the show, giving the audience their interpretation of a Las Vegas style magic show, complete with a 1980s musical playlist. They get to do the biggest illusions, but again, they aren’t really anything we haven’t seen before (like sawing a woman in half and doing the body swap in a bag trick). They make up for the familiar with their showmanship, though, and are at least a lot of fun to watch.
Now, this review is based only on what we witnessed at our performance so hopefully it was an off night, but at times it was a bit sloppy. Sound issues plagued the first half of the show with mics often cutting out, and the sound in the theatre was out of sync with the video on the screens. The cast was really trying hard to juice up the audience, but perhaps the issues were throwing them off their games because they didn’t seem to be connecting with the crowd who gave them all some polite applause at the end of an illusion, but there was nothing thunderous until Young and Strange’s Vegas act, which saw them finally relaxing and putting it all out on stage, finally hooking the audience who got caught up in all the spectacle and personality the pair presented. It was a spectacular finish to a show that was just a bit too safe. Also, there really is no reason this show needs to be presented in two parts. The information about the show suggests it runs over two hours, but each part of the show ran between 40 and 45 minutes, so it could have been a single 90-minute performance. Our evening started a little late which leaves us to wonder if there were issues with some of the illusions (photos provided to the media show some illusions that were not presented in the show). Even when they got to intermission it felt like it wasn’t meant to be as everything just stopped and Strange, I believe, awkwardly said they were going to have an intermission. Things just felt off.
Champions of Magic could be a great show if things work as they should. The team of magicians have promise but need to show more personality — well, not Young and Strange because they know they are the stars — if they’re going to connect with the audience, and give us some fantastic illusions we haven’t seen before. They also need to consider dropping the intermission if the show is not actually 2 hours and 15 minutes, because any momentum that was building is dissipated. Also, please dress the assistants. They just look like stagehands moving props on and off stage. It looks unprofessional. We attended a play recently where the stagehands were in full costume, so give this crew something more colorful than all black or bedazzle their T-shirts at the very least.
If you’re a magic aficionado, you may find Champions of Magic a bit of a letdown — especially if you watch the trailer, which features a different female magician and some truly eye-popping illusions not in this show. Younger members of the audience — and yes, this is very kid-friendly (they use kids from the audience in a couple of the acts) — will certainly be fascinated and thrilled, and their reactions to what is happening on stage is the real magic.
Champions of Magic runs about 2 hours, with one intermission. Recommended for ages 6 and up.
Champions of Magic runs through December 1 at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theatre. Other cities on the schedule include Newport News, Montreal, Green Bay, Wichita, Kansas City, Dallas, Long Beach, Spokane, Vancouver and more. Visit the official website for more information. Use our Ticketmaster link to purchase tickets.
Champions of Magic
The Kennedy Center
Check our Ticketmaster link for ticket availability.
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