5. Random thoughts on "Champions of Magic" - So. Much. Fun! Catch the Champions of Magic at The Bluma Appel Theatre through to January 6, 2019. Tickets through Ticketmaster.
4. Toronto: Kayla Drescher lecture - Looking forward to this!
3. Jeff Pinsky - honourary life member of Ring 17 - Thank you Jeff, for your support of the magic community!
2. Toronto: Win tickets to see "Champions of Magic" - Thank you for playing and a special thank you to Starvox Entertainment for making the prize available!
1. Vote now for the 2018 Readers' Choice award - View the results now!
Shin Lim, who pocketed a cool $1 million as an America's Got Talent champion, performs sleight-of-hand card tricks. While close-up magic inevitably loses something in a large auditorium (even if you're sitting down front, you inevitably wind up looking at the video screens), the young magician is such a master of his craft that it doesn't matter. His fluid movements are beautifully choreographed and executed, achieving a near poeticism enhanced by his slyly confident manner.
Oake delivers some of the evening's most lavish illusions, including several in which he miraculously appears and disappears. His muscled, tattooed physique and shaved head make him appear far more threatening than he actually is. Plenty of magicians perform a bit in which they make doves appear out of thin air, for instance, but not many seem fond enough of the birds to kiss them.
Read more.
Masters of Illusion, America's largest touring magic show featuring the greatest magicians of our time will tour the U.S.A. and Canada in January and February 2019 making stops at theatres in North Carolina, Florida, Canada, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. It stars magicians from The CW Network's hit primetime television series of the same name.
Magicians appearing in the January 2019 leg of the tour will include: Ed Alonzo, Naathan Phan, Michael Turco and Tommy Wind. Click here to see some performance highlights of magicians appearing on January 14 - 21, 2019 tour dates: https://vimeo.com/user4830612/review/301716874/19b98d5c64
Magicians appearing in the February 2019 leg of the tour will include: Chipper Lowell, Naathan Phan, Michael Turco and Tommy Wind. Click here to see some performance highlights of magicians appearing on February 2 - 17, 2019 tour dates: https://vimeo.com/user4830612/review/301715723/9f169c234f
Read more.
Saturday, February 2, 2019: Caesars Windsor Hotel & Casino, 377 Riverside Drive East (Hotel, Casino and Valet Entrance): McDougall Avenue and Pitt Street, Windsor, ON, CA N9A 7H7, https://www.caesars.com/caesars-windsor
and
Wednesday, February 13, 2019: Centre In The Square, 101 Queen Street North, Kitchener, ON N2H 6P7, Canada, https://centreinthesquare.com
After decades of mesmerizing crowds and making people laugh and smile, Fredericton magician Perley Palmer has died.
The famed entertainer, known simply as Perley the Magician, died at the age of 75 on Friday.
He was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in April 2015, but it didn't stop him from making people smile with his tricks, even in his last days.
Read more.
TORONTO, ON, December 21, 2018: Last night, the UK’s biggest large-scale illusion spectacle Champions Of Magic left Toronto spellbound after its spectacular opening night performance. Running for a limited-time engagement at The Bluma Appel Theatre (St Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front St E.), with an unprecedented three shows a day, the popular production has to be seen to be believed.
As The Bluma Appel Theatre’s highest selling holiday extravaganza ever, Starvox Entertainment is proud to announce the addition of five new performances across the following dates, including a death-defying fourth show on January 5, for a total of 40 performances over 18 days!
- Wednesday, December 26, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. EST
- Thursday, December 27, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. EST
- Friday, December 28, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. EST
- Wednesday January 2, 2019 at 5:00 p.m. EST
- Saturday January 5, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. EST
Note to parents of young children: The music can be very loud at times throughout the show. There's also a smoke machine involved. Forewarned is forearmed.
Hang out in the lobby after the show and have a picture taken with the @ChampionsMagic cast.#ChampionsOfMagic #championsTO pic.twitter.com/Y42ZWLMUyF— Canada's Magic (@canadasmagic) December 21, 2018
Disclosure: Kidlet and I were guests at this show. The opinions expressed above are entirely my own. I did not receive compensation for the writing or the publishing of this article.
“I was in a restaurant eating a bowl of spaghetti when this guy pulled an egg out of my ear and it blew my mind,” remembers Outerbridge, who shares the stage with his wife and partner, Marion Outerbridge. “From that moment on I wanted to be able to create a sense of wonder for others.”
By the time he was 12, Outerbridge was already being paid to perform magic at neighbourhood birthday parties, delivering 15-minute sets of slight-of-hand tricks and small-scale illusions. At 19 he was earning his living as a professional magician, developing illusions that would eventually be used in such sold-out tours as Magical Moments In Time and the Time Capsule Tour.
Read more.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2019
Presented by: Punchline Productions Inc.
With a showman’s flair, a comedian’s wit, and the capacities of a bona fide Mentalist or thought reader, The Amazing Kreskin has, for six decades, dramatized the unique facets of the human mind…his own. His very name has become an integral part of pop culture throughout the world. During the past fifty years Kreskin has had a television series, his own board game by Milton Bradley, twenty published books, and a major motion picture inspired by his work.
In the 1970’s Kreskin headlined his own television series for five and a half seasons called, ‘The Amazing World of Kreskin’. The airline industry estimates that Kreskin has flown over 3 million miles, to reach a vast international audience with his unique brand of Mentalism.
At 83 years of age, Kreskin shows no signs of slowing down. He continues to perform his legendary live shows in front of packed audiences around the world, playing over 200+ dates yearly.
Recommended Age: 10+
Age Restriction: 7+
Read more and buy tickets.
I'll be headlining the theatre with my Comedy and Magic show on this incredible ship from Feb 24th to March 3rd 2019, I'd absolutely love to have you take the cruise, say HI and enjoy the fantastic luxury that is Holland America's newest ship #HAL https://t.co/XVYO60QCxW— Matthew DiSero (@MattDisero) November 26, 2018
I am proud to announce my upcoming theater tour of Alberta in January 2019. Dates and theaters are listed below with links for tickets.
If you are in the province of Alberta and have always wanted to see my full evening theater show now is your only chance for the next couple of years!
I will be including the underwater escape that was made famous on my Britain's Got Talent appearance this year and the one that has got me well over 40 Million views on YouTube.
If you have friends and family in Alberta share this link so they can see the show. Looking forward to this exclusive tour with limited dates. Alberta, here I come!
Friday January 11th 2019 - Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre, Drayton Valley, AB
Sunday January 13th 2019 - The Performing Arts Centre, Stettler, AB
Thursday January 17th - Griffin Park Theater, Brooks, AB
Friday January 18th - Maclab Centre for the Performing Arts, Leduc, AB
Sunday January 20th - Bonnyville and District Centennial Centre, Bonnyville, AB
When is a box not just a box? When it’s a metaphor in Richard Forget’s show, The Magic Box.
“It suggests a whole bunch of things,” says the Whitby magician. “It can mean so much.”
Forget notes that the history of magic is full of them: people disappearing from a box, a magician sawing his assistant in half as she lays in a box. And a theatre itself is a box, he says.
Forget, the Canadian Magician of the Year in 2011, is encouraging Durham residents to come and see his show on Dec. 18 at 8 p.m. at Oshawa’s Regent Theatre. After all, he isn’t around much.
“I don’t get to perform this show in the Durham area a lot because I travel a lot,” he says.
Read more.
TORONTO, ON, DECEMBER 13, 2018: The holiday season just got a little more magical as Starvox Entertainment announces a very special performance of Champions Of Magic accompanied by American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation. On December 29 at 5:00 p.m. at Toronto’s Bluma Appel Theatre (St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front St E), the UK’s mind-bending magical troop, will deliver their jaw-dropping, mind-bending performance and mesmerising illusions with ASL interpretation to Toronto for the first time ever.
“Fully immersing deaf audience members into a grand scale illusion show, such as Champions of Magic, is no easy task, and is rarely done,” stated Corey Ross President and Founder of Starvox Entertainment. “While magic is very visual, the sleight of hand often involves distracting the audience through audio cues and the traditional magician’s patter. The Champions are preparing themselves for the challenge of performing for this new audience without giving away the secrets of the illusions. It will be incredibly suspenseful to see if this works.”“It was really important to us that the show to be fully inclusive of the diverse Toronto audience,” says Kayla Drescher, the show’s close up Magician. “Having a performance with American Sign Language interpretation allows the entire audience to be totally immersed in the magic and enjoy the camaraderie that is an integral part of the performance.”
Champions Of Magic’s five world-class illusionists deliver a mesmerizing experience that’s entertaining for the entire family. Featuring incredible illusions with sports cars, an impossible escape from Houdini’s water torture cell, mind-blowing predictions that must be witnessed to be believed, levitation from wonderous heights and a finale beyond explanation, Champions of Magic showcases original magic that can’t be seen anywhere else.To reserve seats for the December 29th ASL performance, please use code “ASL” when purchasing tickets through www.ticketmaster.ca to ensure assigned seating. For assistance, contact the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts box office via tquinlan@stlc.com or call 416-366-7723.
JUST ANNOUNCED: Bring your wands, #Potter fans! The Olivier Award-nominated @PottedPotter – The Unauthorized Harry Experience – A Parody by Dan and Jeff is making its way to #Ottawa Mar. 13th - 16th!— ACT (@ACT_Ottawa) December 7, 2018
Tickets on sale Dec. 11th @ 10:00am! Details here: https://t.co/mX8xDt0VPa pic.twitter.com/qWvA05lXPj
See you at the castle, best NYE ever! thx Jeremy Yam for another amazing Lucy Image :) https://t.co/Nx53fKqGWh pic.twitter.com/nSuG2czfsH— Carisa Hendrix (@CarisaHendrix) December 6, 2018
we would have definitely made the effort for you and would have probably set up our full illusion show complete with lighting, music and pyro.
Despite having all of this magic at our fingertips in the age of smartphones, we think that people are still looking for that momentary escapism where they can feel like a kid again, even if only for a few seconds. Magic and certainly stage illusion can absolutely do that.
It has a multi-magician line-up with different styles of magic-- if you don’t like one performer or style, you’ll like one of the others.The varied line up also allows for much more flexibility within the show, therefore broadening its appeal. The show is constantly evolving both on and off stage. The branding and marketing changes as the producer (an incredibly hardworking, dynamic man called Alex Jarrett) learns from each run of the shows we do.
It seems no level of production can compete with confusing a bandana for a banana.
I think I would have developed a silent act very much in the style of Teller (from Penn & Teller). I like the challenge of communicating without words and letting the magic do the talking.
When I’m thinking of new routines or material for a show, my first starting point is always what I want the audience to experience: what do I want them to see, think and feel. Sometimes it’s just a cool idea - a way to reveal something someone is thinking of in an unexpected or surprising way. Then I start to think about how it should look, and feel. Then I start to think about how I can achieve whatever it is I’ve dreamt up.
When you watch a magic trick, you are being shown something that shouldn’t be possible but somehow it’s still happening. Magic relies on taking something you know to be a fact, an object is solid, your thoughts are yours and yours alone, and breaks the rules. It’s fun for people to not understand the world for a few moments.
Magic is and always had been at its best when experienced live. Seeing someone vanish before your very eyes is always going to be enticing.
This show started in the UK so when we first started touring North America we were initially shocked by the audiences’ enthusiasm this side of the pond. It’s a cliché, but in the UK we are more reserved and skeptical as a people, but across the Atlantic, people are eager to see a magic show and happy to just enjoy the experience. I’ve always found Canadians to have a pleasant mix between American optimism and European sensibilities so I’m looking forward to performing here and seeing the response we get.
All of the above is true! This show has been touring in the UK and US over the past 5 years so we’ve had all sorts happen. We have had the truck containing all the props, lights, and set turning up 2 hours before the show starts, and once not turning up at all! Thankfully we have an amazing cast and crew, especially the crew who can also pull-off miracles.
It’s always exciting to travel and meet new people, and we’ve visited places I might never have had the chance to if I wasn’t touring with this show. The best part is getting to do it with the cast and crew of Champions of Magic, the best tour family there is!
"Don't forget that this Friday is the Good News Breakfast. Join us at Greg Frewin Theatre from 7-10am. Come enjoy a free breakfast, world-class entertainment and good news from the community. Donations will be accepted. YourTV will be broadcasting live and streaming it online. Don't miss out on the fun!"
"Sorcerers Safari Magic Camp is NOW offering The ART of MAGIC in all school programs (After 4, Artist in Residence, Lunch and Team Building). Sorcerers Safari Magic Camp is THE ONLY magic instructional program certified by the TDSB and TPL. Bring a little MAGIC to your school."
A well deserved award of recognition presented last night to Jeff Pinsky @theBrowsersDen by @IBMring17 pic.twitter.com/jYdjFGmfjD— Canada's Magic (@canadasmagic) December 7, 2018
Champions Of Magic’s five world-class illusionists deliver an action-packed show to entertain the entire family featuring; incredible illusions with sports cars, an impossible escape from Houdini’s water torture cell, mind-blowing predictions that have to be seen to be believed, levitation from wonderous heights and a finale beyond explanation. The tour features original magic that can’t be seen anywhere else, in an explosive show that will delight audiences of all ages.
Five magicians make up this mind-bending magical troop, including:
- Kayla Drescher, named the Next Great Magician by David Copperfield.
- Alex McAleer has the ability to tap into his audience's’ minds and read their thoughts.
- Fernando Velasco who has triumphed over it all, from straitjackets to water tanks and handcuffs to giant steel traps, he has faced some of the deadliest escape stunts ever performed.
- Young and Strange have been featured on television shows around the globe thanks to their spectacular illusions and viral videos.
- Log into the RaffleCopter widget below, using Facebook or a valid e-mail address.
- Mandatory: Leave a comment in the widget, telling me what you think is the most difficult magical effect to take on tour and perform in front of a large audience night after night (from a personal experience, stories from peers, personal opinion etc). (You do not need to be a magician to enter the contest. You could simply say “All of them, I’m not a magician!”)
- Optional: For an additional entry
a) Sign in to your Twitter account
b) Use the RaffleCopter widget to send this message to your Twitter followers:"Enter by Dec 13 to win a family pack of tickets to see Champions of Magic at the Bluma Appel Theatre via @canadasmagic https://canadasmagic.blogspot.com/2018/12/toronto-win-tickets-to-see-champions-of.html"
c) Enter the URL of your Tweet into the RaffleCopter widget to validate your entry.(The optional entry is only valid if the Tweet URL is included.)- If you win, you must be willing to provide your full name and contact information so that a representative from Champions of Magic can coordinate with the Bluma Appel Theatre box office.
