Last chance to catch Champions of Magic
in Canada this year is in Peterborough on December 9th.
On Saturday Kidlet, and I made the trek to Kitchener's Circle In The Square.
- The last time I was at CITS was for one of the very first conventions hosted by the Canadian Association of Magicians.
- All of the theatre staff were super helpful, professional, and generally
fabulous!
- While not mandatory, a good number of the patrons and ushers were masked.
- The show is about an hour for the first half, with a 16 minute intermission, and about an hour in the second half.
- As always with this show I am genuinely afraid of posting spoilers. The less you know going in, the more you'll enjoy it.
We teased a few years back about a
Champions of Magic Concert Album. The show has matured to the point where it has a wonderful toe tapping soundtrack! Going back to the 1930s with "Sing, Sing, Sing," to the 1960s with "The Girl from Ipanema," to the 1970s with "Live and Let Die" and of course the 80's hits transporting you back to 1989 Las Vegas!
On with the show...
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.
There's a videographer on hand to capture close-up miracles and project them nice and big on a screen so everyone can see!
Regular readers of the blog have probably guessed that this would be our summary of the show:
So. Much. Fun!
It's possible that between one half to two thirds of this show is new compared with their 2019 presentation.
If memory serves, there are no standard card tricks in the show!
- As Strange, Velasco, and Young all indicated in their interviews, this show is very different from the one presented in Oshawa in 2019, and significantly different than the one mounted in Toronto in 2018.
- There are more whole cast moments, making the show less of a patchwork piece and more of a thoughtfully woven production.
- There's LOTS audience participation with both children and adults!
- Visually stunning!
Whether you're new to magic or are a professional magician, there's something for everyone!
- McAleer's material has undergone a significant change and he's introduced two new very strong pieces. The first, a very visual effect with a young mentalist in training. And the second a beautifully constructed homage to Keller.
- England is net new to the show from it's 2019 iteration. She showcases a strong skill set and talent that is intensely theatrical! (I'll never look at a cup of tea the same way again.)
- For those who have seen the show already, not to worry! The cornerstone
crowd-pleasers are still in the show, tweaked and refined!
- Aerialist Michelle Mazzarella dazzled from above.
- Velasco succeeds in breathtaking, heart-stopping escapes and then some.
Even though I've seen him do many of these things before, everything he
does makes me nervous!
- Young and Strange have carefully pruned their wonderful grand illusions and introduced some new things in their place. Even after having seen them perform a similar set twice before, Young and
Strange are remarkably entertaining to watch. One can't help but get
caught up in the fun they are having on stage! They've introduced a collaborative piece with Velasco that has a very strong audience reaction.
While excellent magic is at the core of this experience, it's clear that the focus is providing a fabulously entertaining evening.
They definitely hit their mark!
- This was the third time seeing the show and we were thoroughly entertained! There are so many moments of joyous
laughter, and periods of being completely enthralled in the spectacle.
- It is clear that the acts and the scripts are a work in progress and continue to be thoughtfully curated, updated, and revised. It gets better every time!
We highly recommend it!
(Even if you've seen it before.)
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.
