The cat's out of the bag. Champions of Magic welcomes Liberty Larsen to its cast!
The cat's out of the bag. We're delighted to interview Liberty leading up to the Champions of Magic "Chasing the Unbelievable" tour dates in Canada:
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Nov 13 - 16:
National Arts Centre, Ottawa ON
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Dec 4 - 6:
Thunder Bay Community Auditorium, Thunder Bay ON
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Dec 8:
Sudbury Community Arena, Sudbury ON
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Mar 19:
Slush Puppie Place, Kingston ON
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Mar 20:
Place des Arts, Montreal QC
- Mar 22: Avenir Centre, Moncton NB
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Mar 23:
Scotiabank Centre, Halifax NS
- Mar 25: FirstOntario Concert Hall, Hamilton ON
- Mar 26: Performance Stage at Canada Life Place, London ON
- Mar 27-28: Pickering Casino, Pickering ON
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May 8-9:
Royal Theatre, Victoria BC
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May 11:
Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary AB
- May 20-22: Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver BC
Check the Champions of Magic website for updates and more information.
You may already know Liberty:
- is a fourth-generation magician,
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is from the family that founded The Magic Castle, Genii Magazine, and the
Academy of Magical Arts,
- is a singer,
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combines theatrical magic with original musical compositions, and
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was on Penn and Teller's
Fool Us S04E04
What is your first memory of magic?
My first memory of magic is on my fifth birthday, at the Magic Castle, on
stage with the one and only – Ireland’s Largest Leprechaun, Mister Billy
McComb. I believe he did the vanishing birdcage that day. He eventually got
me on stage as a volunteer and I was in heaven. I thought he was the bees
knees. And as I got older, he just got funnier and funnier. One of my
favorites ever. Rest in peace, Billy.
Other than your family, who were the first professional magicians you
remember seeing?
I was lucky enough to see the Siegfried and Roy show as a young kid, and that show was truly mesmerizing, larger than life. It felt like being in another world. I remember the electricity in the room. It was thrilling and kinetic, and they were so graceful. They seemed to have walked onto the stage from the clouds.
By what mechanisms did you begin learning magic?
I learned magic at Magic Camp as a kid (that’s right, folks!) in Idyllwild,
California. I also learned from dear family friends, and from books.
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Liberty Larsen |
Who inspires you that is not a magician?
Outside of magic, I’m inspired by Joanna Newsom, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen (two very special Canadians who almost dated!), Jesca Hoop, Martha Graham, Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, Peter Brook, Carmen Amaya, Kate Bush, Harry Nilsson, Tom Waits, Remedios Varo, Robert Moss, on and on… I love people who make worlds out of their dreams and stubbornly insist on living inside them.
Outside of magic, I’m inspired by Joanna Newsom, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen (two very special Canadians who almost dated!), Jesca Hoop, Martha Graham, Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, Peter Brook, Carmen Amaya, Kate Bush, Harry Nilsson, Tom Waits, Remedios Varo, Robert Moss, on and on… I love people who make worlds out of their dreams and stubbornly insist on living inside them.
Who inspires you magically?
I’m inspired by Rob Zabrecky, Michael Carbonaro, Jared Kopf, Voronin, The Swedish Monkey Opera, René Lavand (rest in peace) and many other gems.
In addition to performing magic, we understand that you are also a
musician. Have you studied anything else magic-adjacent? How have these
studies informed your magic performance?
Though I can’t say I’ve officially studied art, film or photography, I’ve
definitely been influenced by my own rogue education in all of those realms.
Everything that inspires, everything that lights up the circuitry,
everything that gives goosebumps, can translate into magic, I think.
I draw from music more than anything else, because I look to magic to create strong feelings. I’m not really drawn to cerebral stuff, or puzzles, it’s not how my mind is wired. I can appreciate them but they don’t motivate me to get on stage.
On stage, I don’t want to be clever. I want to feel connected to people When I’m in an audience, I want to feel like the performer is cracking my heart open like a walnut, and melting me. So, I look to music for how to do that, because that’s how I’m wired. So I often sing, because it’s a quick cheat to shift things from intellect into feeling. But even when I’m not singing, the same elements of music – rhythm and pacing, tone and resonance, harmonics and dissonance, dynamics and flow – all these things go into good theater, and satisfying magic.
I draw from music more than anything else, because I look to magic to create strong feelings. I’m not really drawn to cerebral stuff, or puzzles, it’s not how my mind is wired. I can appreciate them but they don’t motivate me to get on stage.
On stage, I don’t want to be clever. I want to feel connected to people When I’m in an audience, I want to feel like the performer is cracking my heart open like a walnut, and melting me. So, I look to music for how to do that, because that’s how I’m wired. So I often sing, because it’s a quick cheat to shift things from intellect into feeling. But even when I’m not singing, the same elements of music – rhythm and pacing, tone and resonance, harmonics and dissonance, dynamics and flow – all these things go into good theater, and satisfying magic.
What, if anything, makes you nervous about joining the Champions
family?
Giant theaters! Exciting, but not something I’m used to. I’ve performed in a lot of very small, cabaret style venues. This is a whole different ball of wax.
Giant theaters! Exciting, but not something I’m used to. I’ve performed in a lot of very small, cabaret style venues. This is a whole different ball of wax.
What are you most looking forward to about joining the Champions of
Magic family?
The adventure of it! I love the electrical current that’s running through this project. It’s got a strong pulse. It seems like I’m hopping on a train that’s changing platforms and going to a whole new dimension. This is such a fantastic group of people, and it’s an ambitious risk we’re all taking together, which is a truly exciting challenge.
If you could go back in time to study (magic or otherwise) under anybody, who would you choose to be your mentor?
I think I would go back in time and study dance with Martha Graham. I devoured
her autobiography and am so inspired by the way she lived her life. She was a
genuinely magical person, and a profound teacher. I feel like what she taught
could translate beyond dance into just about anything. She taught people how
to be deeply in their bodies, truly themselves and radically open to their own
source of inspiration.
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Liberty Larsen |
If you could prevent other performers performing an effect forever, what
would it be?
I read a truly terrible “gag” in an antique magic book about having your Thanksgiving turkey get up and walk off the table. It involved using a real chicken, plucked, and doing some terrible things to force it to be still, and painting it brown as if it was roasted. I would outlaw that turkey trick, punishable by tarring and feathering.
I read a truly terrible “gag” in an antique magic book about having your Thanksgiving turkey get up and walk off the table. It involved using a real chicken, plucked, and doing some terrible things to force it to be still, and painting it brown as if it was roasted. I would outlaw that turkey trick, punishable by tarring and feathering.
If you could only perform one effect for the rest of your life, what
would it be?
I am not sure I could ever be up to that challenge. But if I could
shapeshift into a bird while singing, and land one someone’s shoulder,
maybe deliver a secret message that only they would understand and that
would inspire a huge gasp, it would be that.
What’s your go-to Karaoke song?
“Get it While You Can” by Janis Joplin. Not because of the lyrics, necessarily, but because her emotional range is just so great to sing.
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think about
performing in Canada?
The Louise Bourgeois spider sculpture.
Just the fist thing that came into my mind…
[Editor's note: "Maman" by Louise Bourgeois can be seen at the
National Gallery of Canada.]
From the October 31st Instagram post by Young Hollywood, Liberty Larsen, and Fernando Velasco (one of her Champions of Magic co-stars) are interviewed about the Magic Castle:
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I just learned that, “The first reference to throwing rotten vegetables at bad stage acts came in an 1883 New York Times article after John Ritchie was hit with a barrage of tomatoes and rotten eggs by an unpleasant audience in New York. A large tomato thrown from the gallery struck him square between the eyes and he fell t the floor just as several bad eggs dropped upon his head.” The more you know…!
Thank you Liberty, for making the time to answer our questions!
Learn more about Liberty by visiting her website
LibertyLarsen.com, and follow her on
Facebook
and
Instagram.
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