Showing posts with label # report. Show all posts
Showing posts with label # report. Show all posts

28 March 2014

Random thoughts about Magic @ The Cage

Over March Break, we made our way to The Cage to catch Abracadabaret in action.   On tap were James Alan, Chris Westfall and Jamie Stam.
  • The Crimson Lounge at The Cage is a great venue for dinner theatre.  [This is a cash only venue.]
  • Performers who are aware that there minors in the audience, and adjust their script / set to accommodate for young people, win over the children's parents immediately.  Doubly so if the show wasn't billed as a child friendly show.
  • Performers who mind their language because of the presence of young persons with perhaps delicate ears, can be more entertaining than if they had ignored the fact entirely.  [Kudos and thank you to James Alan!]
  • Adults are surprisingly entertained by children volunteers on stage, as long as the children are enjoying themselves and especially if the children are laughing.
  • Kidlet has seen a balloon animal act before, a few times, more times than I can remember and was still well entertained by Chris's handling.  Impressive Chris!
  • I'm always delighted to see James on stage with a roll of duct tape in hand.  Because I know what follows is going to be wonderful.
  • Jamie presented some material I hadn't seen him perform before.  Very creative, visual and effective.
  • Most of the Sunday (and some of the Tuesday) shows this month have been sold out.  Be sure to purchase your tickets in advance to reserve your seats!  (If you have comps, do let James Alan know which date you're hoping to attend.)

09 March 2014

Random thoughts about Ring 17 Members' Night

  • Shout out to everyone who hosted and performed at Members' Night last week! 
  • It takes incredible courage for amateurs to perform in front of the club.  Well done everyone who made it up to the front of the room! 
  • The presence of a child, whom James Alan referred to as Urchin, allowed all of the women in the room to let out a collective sigh of relief.  (They were spared the fate of "volunteering" for the evening.)
  • Urchin was treated very well while volunteering.  Impressive.  I've seen highly respected "legendary" professionals treat children horribly.  Keep up the great work folks!
  • There are some very talented magicians in Ring 17.
  • Ariel Frailich knows a lot.
  • The members behaved very respectfully during situations where life wasn't going quite according to plan.  It's nerve-racking performing in front of talented professionals.  Thanks for being supportive!
  • There's truth to the proverb:
    'Tis a lesson you should heed:
    Try, try, try again.
    If at first you don't succeed,
    Try, try, try again.
  • Are all magicians from Calgary named Chris as talented as the two we saw last week?
  • I finally witnessed a peformance by Mark Lewis with young people in the room.  I'm a fan.  Doubly impressed that he took Urchin aside at the end of the night, to teach an alternate presentation of an effect shared that evening.
  • James can tie a perfect bowtie without the aid of a mirror.



10 February 2013

Report: David Ben at The Walrus Talks

From Sharing Wonder:
Specifically, David talked about one area of card table artifice that has plagued the best of card cheats for centuries. Not only did he flag the problem (while entertaining the audience with a sly nod to his sleight-of-hand wizardry), he also shared how he solved this “tricky”  manoeuvre by tipping his famous mantra: “How do you get in to it, and how do you get out of it”.

Read more.

21 October 2012

A day at Niagara Falls

As part of last summer's school break plans, we saved up our pennies to see Greg Frewin's show "Imagine" at the Greg Frewin Theatre in Niagara Falls.

Kidlet and I made the trek to Niagara Falls through the pouring rain and arrived mid-afternoon during a light drizzle.  We made a quick check in to the theatre box office to make sure our tickets were there (they were!) and to get the parking pass for the car.  (Did you know that ticket price includes free parking anytime after 9am on the day of the show?)

From the theatre it's a short walk to Clifton Hill (the "Street of Fun" by the Falls) and a five to ten minute jaunt (depending leg length and ease of distractibility – SkyWheel! Fudge Factory! Ice cream! Wax museum!) to the Maid of the Mist at River Road and Clifton Hill.  Two silver linings to it being a rainy day: 1) we were already decked out in our finest rain gear and were suitably dressed for the iconic boat ride next to The Falls and 2) the line ups were super short!  (Sadly, we weren't able to see any rainbows in the mist itself, but we were warm and dry!)  Exit through the gift shop...

We wandered through the area, grabbed a bite to eat and explored a little more.  Then back to the car for a dash to the Butterfly Conservatory.
Note to Ontario families:  We used a coupon for a free child's admission (as long as we paid for an adult admission) from our "Ontario 2012 Fun Pass" booklet which was given to us at the end of the school year.  The conservatory was FABULOUS!  Highly recommended!

Back to the theatre.  We were seated with a wonderful young couple from New York.  We were later joined by wonderful company from Ohio and Vancouver Island.  The table next to us had plenty of children aged 4 and up – I had as much fun watching the reactions of all the children as I did watching the show!
Tip: Arrive as early as you can to ensure good seating (the box office will let you know what time is best). 
Note to parents: Bring along some distractions for little ones (such as crayons with paper, playing cards, books, quiet hand-held video games etc.) to help pass the time between arriving for the best seating and show time.  We were lucky that the delightful couple from the Rochester area, kindly joined us in a game of Crazy Eight Countdown  and the time flew by! 
If you think your child would be scared sitting right up close to the tigers at level one, level two offers an equally good view of the stage along with the sense of a physical barrier between you and the big cats.

The theatre also has some entertainment while you wait: tiger and magic trivia on the big screen!  In addition, there was a creative pre-show animated short from the Vancouver film school.
Note to parents:  Some of the kids 8 and under in our area found the short a little scary at times.

My favourite part was a fabulous video promoting Sorcerers Safari Magic Camp.  It put a big smile on my face!

As for the show itself, how could you not be entertained by helicopters, a bowling ball, an invisible deck, Oreos, tigers, talented ladies, fire, milk, tigers, a dog, doves, tigers, Chuck the Duck, and macaws?  Did I mention the tigers?  What's not to like?  (Throughout the show, one of our evening's companions could be heard muttering, "How did he do the thing with the duck?")
Note to parents of young children:  The last big illusion, which I'll refer to as the Assistants' Revenge, was a little tense for some of the younger children.  But it ended with happy faces!

After the show there's an opportunity to have your photo taken in the same cage with a tiger!  (Well worth it in my opinion.)  Technically, you're not really in the same confined space as the tiger, but it sure looks like that in the picture.  The tiger trainer is right there, which made this parent feel a whole lot more relaxed about the experience.  Part of the profit from the items in the magical gift shop, including the photo sales, are used to support a tiger sanctuary.  After the show, you can queue up for an autograph from Greg!

Needless to say, Kidlet and I had an absolutely wonderful time at the show!  A picture with a tiger, a souvenir from the gift shop, and the chance to chat with Mr. Frewin himself!

As impressed as I was with the show, I was equally impressed with all of the staff at the theatre.  Everyone was friendly, professional and customer focused.  Huge thanks to:  the very patient box office staff (Caitlin, Roxanne and Nina), the ushers, the fabulous assistants who we met while in line for having our photo taken, Johnny Ferrara the tiger trainer, the gift shop staff and all of the fabulous people who kept things orderly and moving for the post-show autographs. 

Thank you Greg et al, for a most magical ending to our wonderful day in Niagara Falls!




11 August 2012

The secret to Sorcerers Safari's success

Almost sixteen years ago, armed only with the idea of making magic more accessible to kids who want to learn magic, "Magic Mike" Segal opened the doors to Sorcerers Safari magic camp.  Flash forward to 2011 to see how far Segal's magic camp has come from its humble beginnings.  Sorcerers Safari is Canada's only sleep away magic camp, hosting up to 150 campers a year.
What is the secret to this Canadian magic camp success story?  I spent 24 hours at camp in August 2011 and here's what I discovered.

25 May 2012

Harry Anderson in "Harry the Hat Tonight"

Anyone who has known me for any length of time, knows that I have a soft spot in my heart for Harry Anderson's three card monte routine, Monarch Monte.  Seeing his live show has been on my bucket list for quite some time.  (I even briefly considered finding my way to Regina in November of 2010 to see him perform there.)

Imagine my delight when I first learned that he was scheduled to perform and lecture in Whitby, ON.

And so, last weekend, I went to the Class Act Dinner Theatre for the very first time. The theatre itself is spacious.  It looked to me like there were no bad seats in the house.  The buffet was plentiful and delicious.  My dinner companions made more than one trip to the servery before their meal was done.  The roast beef and Yorkshire pudding were the highlights of my meal and the desserts were yummy!

There were quite a few familiar faces in the audience:  David Ben, Julie Eng, Suley Fattah, Mike Segal, Jen Segal, Lee Elliott, Michael Close, Lisa Close, Owen Anderson, Peter MennieMichael Fisher Deborah Fallick, Sammy Jakubowicz, Scott Hood, Ken McCreedyRichard Forget, David Sutherland, Phil, Bob Johnston, David Lax, Philip Groff and Gordon Precious.  There were other faces to which I've been unable to put a name and some I've just plain forgot.  (It was a busy weekend.)  Apologies if I've left you out.*


For entertainment, we had Glenn Ottaway, David Merry (who was non-stop with fantastic zingers, "I've been happily married for six years ...") and Richard Forget to warm us up.  Richard performed many of the effects he discussed at last September's Ring 17 lecture.  (I've never been so happy, to not see a skipping rope on stage.)  Then it was time for the headlining act!

Harry Anderson, complete with signature Borsalino and hand-painted tie, opened with Wise Guy Monte, followed with a discussion of card counting, some reminiscing about his performance with Skippy the guinea pig on SNL, and a straitjacket escape I'll not soon forget.  He also did some snazzy dancing while demonstrating card memorization and card counting in real time.  He finished with a larger than life magic square.   For an encore, we were treated to his very special chapeaugraphy routine.


As for the lecture, "Tipping the Hat," Harry took us through each of the routines in his show, discussed volunteer selection and regaled us with stories from his past.  (My favourite is how an expensive impulse buy started a chain of events which lead to his being cast in Night Court!)  Dave Merry was on the money when said (in April) that "the stories alone are worth the price of admission."  (And this weekend with Harry cost less than a round trip flight to Regina!)

Thank you Class Act Dinner Theatre and Harry Anderson for a wonderful weekend!


"There's just one f***ing rule!"

Poor Yvette.

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* If I’ve missed listing anyone who was there please send me an e-mail or leave a comment below! Thank you to Owen, Deborah and Sammy for helping me put names to some of the faces.

The opinions expressed above are entirely my own.  I was not compensated in any way.

07 March 2011

Book launch: "The Lives of a Showman"

Last Friday I had the pleasure of attending a book launch party for “The Lives of a Showman” by Mark Lewis. (I live tweeted the event with the tag #TLOAS though I missed tagging a few tweets here and there.)

Upon entering Browser’s Den of Magic, I was instructed to direct my attention upward. Hanging from the ceiling were more than a dozen cheerful Lee Asher sign creations containing “Markisms” such as “If they were all the nine of hearts it would look like this” and “You're quite slow, do you work for the post office?” The mood was set!

It was clear that Mark has a tremendous amount of support in the local magic community! I found myself shoulder-to-shoulder with Jeff Pinsky, Jeff Hinchliffe, Ariel Fralich, Mia Ngueyn and Adam Harmes who had all made contributions to, or were mentioned in, the book. Other notables present include*: Gordon Precious, Owen Anderson, Paul Pacific, Chris Westfall, John Pellatt, Richard Lyn, John Michalson, Shawna Ross-York, Dan McLean, Steve Shrott, Joe Schwarcz and young Daniel (one of Mark’s students).

While reading from his book, we were regaled with stories of Mark’s experiences with The Worst Audience Ever at The Blue Angel and his early days of (not so) psychic readings in Ireland with Adam Harmes. Mark also read a piece written about him by Mai Nguyen, winner of the Jerry Gladman Memorial Scholarship in Journalism.

To round out the evening we were treated to James Alan’s rendition of Mark’s “Pig Trick” and then we all laughed ourselves silly through Jeff Hinchliffe’s impersonation of Mark doing his Svengali deck hustle.

It is always a delightful experience to hear an author read his own words. If the rest of the book is even half as entertaining as the launch party, it should be a good read indeed!

To purchase “The Lives of a Showman” visit Mark's website, Browser’s Den of Magic or contact your local magic dealer.


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* If I’ve missed listing anyone who was there please send me an e-mail or leave a comment below! Thank you to John Pellatt, Ariel Fralich and James Alan for providing attendee intel on the parts of the room I didn’t make it to.