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

28 July 2015

Review: Just for Laughs' Circus Awesomeus

From the Montreal Gazette:
Bill Brownstein — So they sent in the clowns, and if this wasn’t the Greatest Show on Earth, Circus Awesomeus sure beat the Oscars all to hell. After three weeks of standups, it was a blast to touch base with a clown channelling his inner Céline Dion, sword swallower, aerial acrobat, bawdy balladeering puppet, juggler and X-rated diva.

Denise Duguay — I went in to Monday night’s Circus Awesomeus gala expecting greatness and hoping for a nod to host Neil Patrick Harris’s evil woman-sawing turn in the TV series American Horror Story: Freak Show. I got all that plus a terrifying but endearing giant clown.

Monique Muise — Anyone purchasing tickets to a show dubbed “Circus Awesomeus” was likely hoping for a spectacle, and that’s exactly what we got from Neil Patrick Harris and company. From puppets to magicians to jugglers to singing clowns to (very funny) dwarves, this show had it all.

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07 July 2015

Chris Funk's "Redefining Wonder"

From the review from Mooney on Theatre:
I still can’t figure out how he did it. I spent my entire 30-minute commute home trying to figure it out. I can’t. Chris Funk‘s phenomenal magic blew my mind in his show Redefining Wonder at the Toronto Fringe Festival.

I saw Lance Burton in Las Vegas and David Copperfield when he last came to Toronto. The twelve-year-old magician in me was looking forward to seeing this. I was expecting something good. I was not expecting that it would be that good.

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From James Alan's Reality Based Magic:
Last night I went to the Toronto Fringe and Chris Funk’s Redefining Wonder. I felt some sympathy because I’ve had my own Thursday 10PM opening night at a theatre festival, but the show came recommended to me so I went to go see.

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Watch Chris chat on Breakfast Television.

29 May 2015

Review: Keith Brown's "Absolute Magic"

From the Orlando Sentinel:
Keith Brown's "Absolute Magic" was absolutely mind-bending, mind-boggling and mind-blowing. His upclose magic with cards brought "oohs," the telepathic tricks brought "ahs," and if you've had the pleasure of seeing Brown before, you know that the sewing needles brought "ooooooh — no he didn't!"

The show is quite simple: There's no music, no wild sets, no fancy assistants. He gets by with the few props he needs for his tricks — a deck of cards, some neckties, needles and thread. The razzle-dazzle of Brown is in his charming smile and charismatic personality.

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24 May 2015

Review: "A Series of Unfortunate Effects"

From the Magic Junkies:
Coming in at around 90 minutes, A Series of Unfortunate Effects is a fun, engaging and wonderfully unique instructional DVD featuring some of the best card magic I’ve seen in some time. The movie (yep, I’m calling it a movie) features appearances by Lee Asher, Jeff Hinchliffe, Glenn West, Chris Westfall, plus the creators Chris Mayhew and Ben Train. Bill Abbott even makes an appearance as a maniacal card collector – hey if the shoe fits  Even without the card routines and explanations, I thought the movie was really fun with several laugh out loud moments. The chemistry between Chris Mayhew and Ben Train provides an enjoyable romp through underground card magic. (I’ll take this moment to mention that Chris Mayhew cracks me up!) The video itself is shot in HD and edited beautifully, with great attention to detail throughout. The appearances and card routines are just icing on the proverbial cake. It is a creative adventure that is a joy to watch.

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23 September 2014

Review: Magic, comedy and Vaudeville

This past Saturday afternoon, I was privileged to spend an afternoon with my kids and wife watching two great magician entertainers, James Jordan and Ryan Pilling. My kids are still talking about it!

Prior to the show, my daughter was arguing profusely that “magic is not real!” After the show she kept asking me “Why didn’t you tell me that magic was real?!”

Although the show wasn’t packed — 82 people total —  it should have been. It seems there are a lot of Revelstokians and their children who missed out on a very memorable show. Those who were there had a blast!

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06 September 2014

Review: Murray Celebrity Magician

Read Wayne Kawamoto's review at About:
From his TV appearances on "Pawn Stars," and “America’s Got Talent,” and from his trademark mop of blonde hair to those designer glasses, you may think that you know Murray the magician (aka the Celebrity Magician). But it's not until you attend his Las Vegas magic show that you can truly experience the magic of this talented entertainer. His show, which runs at the Tropicana, is an hour of baffling magic and illusions, comedy and fun.

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05 September 2014

Review: James Jordan's Vaudevillian

From The Marble:
James Jordan has Vaudeville in his veins, and what he puts together is a magical, humorous, and enjoyable spectacle for the whole family.

Jordan stars in Vaudevillian, a show featuring original magic tricks, some inspired by the notes of his real life great-grandfather who himself was a magician in the days of Vaudeville. Jordan begins the show with some simple tricks with his hat, then slowly ramps things up with new twists on classic tricks, and even the world’s most dangerous card trick to top it all off.

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29 July 2014

Reviews: Keith Brown's Exchange

From the CBC:
I’m a brash skeptic who will dismiss any magician’s trick shown to me on video by simply yelling “IT’S VIDEO!” and storming away. I don’t believe in anything supernatural as much as I believe in the human mind’s ability to manipulate and be manipulated, even by itself.

That said, Keith Brown blew my little pumpkin all over the back wall of Venue 5 on Friday night. And not just with his tricks, each of which elicited a reaction from the audience that I suspect would have been the same if we had just seen a shark attack him on stage.

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From the Winnipeg Free Press:
Baby-faced London, Ont., magician Keith Brown wants to make your fringe experience a magical one, and his one-man, hour-long Exchange hits the mark. Featuring straight-up magic — with playing cards, cellphones and neckties — and an impressive use of a memory palace to memorize a deck of cards, Brown’s sweetness and talent charm the audience. And when he brings out some curious and pointy props for his finale, he brings the show home with stomach-churning impressiveness.

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09 July 2014

Review: Rosemary Reid

From Mooney on Theatre:
Rosemary Reid is one of the buskers at this years Fringe Club. If she comes over to your table and asks if she can sit down and do some magic, say yes. We did and all five of us thought she was terrific.
She impressed us with her card tricks, always a good thing, but what really dazzled us was her wit and personality. She was at ease before she even sat down; funny, fast, and delightful.

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05 July 2014

Elizabeth Warlock reviews International Magic Convention

From The Stage:
When magicians from around the world meet up there is sure to be eye popping magic to be seen both on stage and at the close table. Once again it was the latter which dominated, and if there were too many tricks with cards nobody seemed to mind, especially when it came from Dani DaOrtiz, Miguel Gea and Christian Engblom performing as the Fat Brothers. Working together as a trio, chosen cards were revealed at a number given by a spectator, the Aces jumped from the deck and immediately changed to Kings, the deck would change colour and the pips disappear only to return with the flick of a finger.

But perhaps the most incredible card performer was Mahdi who with no hands wowed everyone with some amazing effects including fancy shuffles.        

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26 June 2014

Review: The Uncertainty Project

James Alan’s stage magic leaves Toronto audiences stunned, at the Wychwood Theatre 
“How did he do that?” I asked myself this countless times during James Alan: The Uncertainty Project which is currently playing at the Wychwood Theatre. The show, written by Alan and directed by James Biss, is one full of magic and illusion that is both impressive and entertaining.

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21 June 2014

Review: Card Table Artifice

From The Star:
Ever wanted to be a card sharp or a Mississippi riverboat gambler? Then S.W. Erdnase’s The Expert at the Card Table is essential reading.

Known in magical circles simply as Erdnase, this much admired Bible of card manipulation was published in 1902 and, in detailed, polished and unemotional prose, exposes many tricks of the trade, including blind shuffles, bottom dealing, stocking and locating specific cards, palming and legerdemain.

The work inspired a string quartet with narration, written by composer Gavin Bryars and Spanish poet Juan, which premiered in 1997. And now Toronto magician David Ben has added yet another layer for the 2014 Luminato Festival.

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07 June 2014

Review: Magic at the Comedy Nest

Magicians had a real treat last Sunday evening, if they managed to get into the Comedy Nest. Although there were magicians who came to see the show, most of the audience was comprised of lay people. 
David Acer was the M.C. and was his usual funny self.

Loran, from Quebec City, had a beautiful act, serious, artistic and a pleasure to watch.

Vincent Pimpare did a comedy hynotism act. It was an unexpected break from the usual hypno act and had the audience laughing, so it fit right into the Comedy club setting.

Richard Sanders did a great bill to lime with a lot of hilarious detours along the way. He has a way of making the audience feel as if he is really one of us. He connects well.

Romaine. What can I say about Romaine.  Dressed in tails and a top hat, and slightly tipsy, (part of the routine, of course) he wowed the audience with his continuous production of cards, multiplying billiard balls, and the real magic of Vaudeville days, which mosts of the audience had never seen and they showed their appreciation.

Jonathan Burns did some very funny stuff. My favorite was Cards Across with cheese slices (you know the ones, wrapped in cellophane) instead of cards. Funny stuff. 
And then there was the audience.

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06 June 2014

Review: Keith Brown's The Deception Hour

You can tell from the first moment that Keith loves his work and loves magic. In a typical review I would talk about the plot, the actors, the structure of the play, but I don’t want to do that here. Friends, magic is about mystery, and I don’t want to ruin the mystery. Suffice it to say that Keith Brown is charming, the magic is gob-smackingly clever, and the performance is filled with moments where you cringe in horror at what he’s doing and moments that make you say “Wow!”

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28 May 2014

Review: A Series of Unfortunate Effects

From the Facebook page of A Series of Unfortunate Effects:



24 March 2014

Review: Sankey lecture, Card collectors and Bobby Motta

From the Browser's Den:
Since most of us are talking as much about the weather as we are about our latest sleight of hand moves I am pleased to report that I will make a prediction.

As popular is mentalism these days it was never of much interest to me for most of my formative years studying magic.  Though I do appreciate it more now than then...I still enjoy scarves changing colour and canes changes to candles, linking rings and coins and cups and balls, etc.etc.

That being said, I have decided that I will make a prediction regarding our weather. The cold will disappear by the time I write my next Blog!

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Jeff, about your prediction, I hope you're right!  (And write soon!)


19 March 2014

Review: The Evasons in South Tyneside

From The Shields Gazette:
Jeff and Tessa Evason left everyone completely gobsmacked as they delved into minds, pulling out the information they needed.

It’s absolutely impossible to explain how they did what they did.

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From The Journal:
Unless I’m much mistaken, there will be a few hundred people like me still wondering: How on earth did she do that?
The apparent mind-reading ability of Tessa Evason of The Evasons prompted a standing ovation to conclude this final South Tyneside International Magic Festival in style.

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25 February 2014

Review: David Acer, John Carney, Michel Huot and Rafael DiCaprio at the Comedy Nest.

From Perfect Magic:
As I wrote on the Perfect Magic Facebook, too bad for you if you didn’t go to the Comedy Nest in Montreal last Sunday night. For us, Phil and I, it was like old home week and brought back warm and pleasant memories of Magie Montréal. We had tried to phone Mephisto, aka Wym Vermeys, who was our partner in that venture but couldn’t reach him. He called the day after the show and said he was in Florida. He was heartbroken that he missed it.

David was terrific as the MC. He did many funny bits, which I know all who were there will use, magicians or not! He didn’t do any magic but some good comic mind reading stuff.

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16 February 2014

Review: Lee Asher's Catch 33

From Wayne Kawamoto:
Classic Monte with a Killer Ending

Lee Asher offers this amazing take on classic three-card monte that's taught via a downloadable pdf file that you can view on your computer or mobile device. Asher not only teaches the basics of the monte, he offers a stunning switch at the routine's end that may very well surpass the classic "bent corner" ploy. It's an entertaining routine at a great price.

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24 January 2014

Review: Reading Writing

From Wayne Kawamoto:
Reading Writing teaches an entire system of analyzing handwriting. It will take some memorization and you’ll have to sharpen your skills at recognizing the subtle differences, but there are single sleight of hand moves that take far longer to master.

What’s great about this book is that it offers a gateway into the possibilities of combining handwriting analysis with mentalism and magic. The book explains mentalism “experiments”  regarding: determining favorites, lie detection, a prediction, a book test, matching writing to a person and more. There are also angles on classics such as ambitious card.

I have studied books on the topic and I wish that Ariel Frailich’s “Reading Writing” had been around earlier. This is the book that I would have wanted as a start. I recommend this one and I’ll sign to it.

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