Canada's Magic

06 July 2026

Billy Hsueh SAM 2026 Close-up winner!!!

Congratulations Billy on your well-earned recognition at SAM 2026!

From the July 4th Facebook post by Shawn Farquhar:

Especially Billy Hsueh who won First Place, plus People's Choice and the rarely given Silver Medal of Honor.
Read more.

From the July 4th Facebook post by The Society of American Magicians:

Close-up Contest
1st Place, People's Choice, and Silver Medal Winner: Billy Hseuh
Read more.

Previously shared on Facebook July 4.

05 July 2026

Random thoughts about Keith Brown's show "110% Wizard" at the Toronto Fringe

110% Wizard

Tickets:
https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/110-wizard

Yesterday, we ventured to the Aki Studio in Toronto.

This was our first visit to this theatre which is located in the Daniels Spectrum building. According to the Aki Studio website, they are fully accessible for both patrons and performers.
The theatre is a cozy space, with a capacity of 120 seats (with raked seating). The seating goes about 6 rows deep. Every seat has a great view of the action and Keith has cameras setup to make the small details clearly visible to all. There are seats reserved in the front row, for audience members who have accessibility issues.
The theatre is air-conditioned (very welcome with the current heat wave).
The show is approximately an hour in length, with no intermissions.

Pre-show:

Keith is Fringe veteran. (He mentioned that this was his 60th (!!) Fringe festival.) He hosts a pre-show segment designed to make the audience feel at ease. In it he discusses:

audience participation and what to do if you don't feel comfortable volunteering (this is the first time we can remember a performer proactively giving the audience a method by which they can decline volunteering), and
what it means to be in his 'relaxed performance' show (sensory friendly, house-lights on the majority of the time, in and out privileges, etc).

It's also worth noting that Keith made this showing a Pay What You Can performance, in the hopes of making live shows more accessible to everyone.

On with the show:

In a theatre this size, you get a good view from every seat. (Especially with the camera's Keith has setup.)
The show was nearly, if not completely sold out.
As Keith mentioned in his interview, 110% Wizard is a brand new show.
Without giving too much away, the show did involve gift bags, money, cards, cell phone (audience supplied), luggage tags, water fowl, drinks, and family photos (his).
There is plenty of audience participation. By our count there were well over dozen volunteers (including one not even at the show)!
The show is very family friendly and kept the children in the audience engaged.
Keith shared with us, what is was like working his first ever cruise contract earlier this year. He punctuated his tales with effects that directly related to his experiences.
In his interview with us Keith mentioned a trick that fools magicians. He said, "they think it's a trick they've seen before until it isn't." We were very much fooled!
If you've seen one of Keith's shows, you'll know that he's an expert at making lemonade out of the lemons he is dealt. We're happy to that he continues to do so in 110% Wizard!

"110% Wizard"

is a very refreshing lemonade!

Merch

Cards, stickers, buttons, and ducks are available for purchase after the show, with a portion of the sales going to the Native Earth Performing Arts & Aki Studio.

100% Wizard custom playing cards (designed by Brendan Hong and exclusively available at Fringe shows),
Sticker sheet featuring artwork from the 100% Wizard deck,
Buttons, and
Ducks.

Don't just take our word for it, read what the press at the Orlando Fringe had to say about this show:

From the May 18th article "Review: HIGHER THAN RAINBOWS, 110% WIZARD, and YOUNGER US at The Orlando Fringe Festival" by Benoit Teves at Broadway World:
Fortunately, the cruise ship staff gathered enough miscellaneous items for Brown to cobble together a performance of basic yet dazzling illusions, a few of which still grace the Orlando stage this go-round.
Read more.
From the May 13th article "Orlando Fringe 2026 review: ‘110% Wizard’" by Seth Kubersky at Orlando Weekly:
If you have any doubts that Orlando Fringe changes lives, look no further than illusionist Keith Brown. A fixture of the Festival for over a decade, Brown landed an agent as a result of his 2024 show here, and is now an in-demand guest artist aboard Norwegian and Virgin cruise ships.
Read more.
From the May 15th article "2026 Orlando Fringe Review: 110% Wizard" by Jimbo Wood at Orlando Shine:
Brown, a familiar face to Orlando Fringe audiences and a three-time Critic’s Choice winner for Best Magic Show, returns with what he jokingly describes as the “same wizard, now 10% better.” The framing device for this year’s show centers around a cruise ship residency thrown into chaos after an airline loses the costumes and props intended for the run.
Read more.

For more information about the Toronto Fringe, visit FringeToronto.com

110% Wizard

Tickets:
https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/110-wizard

For more information about Keith Brown, visit his website at AbsoluteMagic.ca and follow him on Facebook and Instagram.

From the July 4th Instagram post by Canada's Magic (photos taken with permission):

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Canadas Magic (@canadasmagicdotcom)

03 July 2026

Thank you to our July 2026 sponsors!

Thank you to our sponsors for their generous support.

This site would not be possible without their backing.

We're grateful to have the support of:

Clive Court - Life Member, Canadian Public Relations Society,
Jeff Pinsky, owner of The Browser's Den of Magic,
Michael Close, author of the new Paradigm Shift ebooks, the Workers series and others, and
Toronto's IBM Ring 17, the Sid Lorraine Hat & Rabbit Club!

The next time you see them, let them know you saw their sponsorship here!

Sid Lorraine Hat & Rabbit Club

For more information about purchasing Sponsored Posts or about our Platinum, Gold, or Silver level sponsorships, please visit our Sponsorship page.

Or you can Be Our Friend for only $20 per year!

Donations of any size are always welcome.

02 July 2026

Montreal: Magic Unleashed [Jul 8]

Presented by the Montreal Magic Jam and featuring:

(Derrick) Chung
Marc Desaulniers
Alex Moreaux
Marc Trudel
David Acer

For tickets and more information visit the post "Magic Unleashed - SHOW [18+]" at Montreal Magic Jam.

01 July 2026

Random thoughts about James Alan's show "Mysteries and Lies" at the Toronto Fringe

Mysteries and Lies

Tickets:
https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/mysteries-and-lies

Yesterday, we ventured to the Sweet Action Theatre in Toronto.

This was our first visit to this theatre which is located in the Artscape Youngplace. According to the Youngplace website, they are "Fully accessible by Ontario standards."
The internet suggested parking in the area was scarce (roughly Dundas St. West and Ossington) so we braved the TTC. The Ossington 63 south takes you to within a 4 minute walk of the theatre.
As James revealed in his June 5th interview with us, the theatre is a cozy space, with a capacity of 46 seats (with raked seating). Every seat has a great view of the action. There are seats reserved in the front row, for audience members who have accessibility issues.
The theatre is air-conditioned (very welcome with the current heat wave).
The show is approximately an hour in length, with no intermissions.

On with the show:

In a theatre this size, you get a good view from every seat. The closer you sit, however, the greater the astonishment!
As teased in his interview, Mysteries and Lies is completely different from any of James' other shows we've had the pleasure to attend.
Much to our dismay, there was no wine bottle nor were there citrus-y 'arts and crafts.'
Without giving too much away, the show did involve glassware, coins, cards, cups, balls, jewellery, envelopes, and a condiment.
There was plenty of audience participation. Four lucky audience members were able to sit at the table with James, scoring better-than-front row seating. (It should be noted that consent was obtained, and no one was forced to sit at the table.) In addition to those four, another seven or eight people from the audience contributed to the uniqueness of the show.
The show touched on history, astronomy, astrology, biology, physics, and pop culture. There was even a Browser's Den of Magic Easter egg, if you were paying attention. (This was possibly unique to opening night.)
While we have seen more than our share of Cups and Balls routines, we have never seen anything quite like the one in this show!
Last week we saw a sneak peek of James performing one of the card effects, and we had no idea how he did it. At the show we were sitting roughly 4.5 metres (~15 feet) away and are no closer to determining the method.
James performed excellent sleight of hand with a wide variety of objects. This was so much more than a 'card magic' show. (But the card magic in it, is excellent!)

"Mysteries and Lies" is our favourite James Alan production to date!

Disclosure: We were guests at this show. The opinions expressed above are entirely our own. We did not receive compensation for the writing or the publishing of this article.

Don't just take our word for it, read what Teena in Toronto had to say about it in her June 30th Instagram post.

For more information about the Toronto Fringe, visit FringeToronto.com

Mysteries and Lies