So Close and Yet So Far

Rick and Suzan Wilcox

I have not been to the Dells since I was very little. All I could recall of the area was the Tommy Bartlett Water Show. It is still here but they now call it the Tommy Bartlett Thrill Show. But the area has changed so much since.

It is now the water park capital of the world. There were some pretty big water parks on the way up from the Illinois line but they pale in comparison to the size and quality of the indoor parks I?ve seen here. Our hotel has a tremendous park with thousands of gallons of water to take pasty Illinois and Michigan people on a stomach-turning trip.

Like I said, that?s what the family was anticipating. I wanted to see The Rick Wilcox Theater. I read about the theater and the big gamble Rick and Suzan Wilcox undertook in buying the old theater and turning it into a premier venue for their magic show. I knew that I wouldn?t have a chance to see them perform on this trip ? during the winter they perform only on Saturdays.

This is not to say that I haven?t had a chance to see parts of the show. I?ve watched their promotional video like a zombie ? assuming a zombie would stay in a real nice hotel with a water park.The showlooks great; really great.

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Rick and Suzan Wilcox

I have not been to the Dells since I was very little. All I could recall of the area was the Tommy Bartlett Water Show. It is still here but they now call it the Tommy Bartlett Thrill Show. But the area has changed so much since.

It is now the water park capital of the world. There were some pretty big water parks on the way up from the Illinois line but they pale in comparison to the size and quality of the indoor parks I?ve seen here. Our hotel has a tremendous park with thousands of gallons of water to take pasty Illinois and Michigan people on a stomach-turning trip.

Like I said, that?s what the family was anticipating. I wanted to see The Rick Wilcox Theater. I read about the theater and the big gamble Rick and Suzan Wilcox undertook in buying the old theater and turning it into a premier venue for their magic show. I knew that I wouldn?t have a chance to see them perform on this trip ? during the winter they perform only on Saturdays.

This is not to say that I haven?t had a chance to see parts of the show. I?ve watched their promotional video like a zombie ? assuming a zombie would stay in a real nice hotel with a water park.The showlooks great; really great.

I?ve checked out their website and to be honest I have not seen a better website for a magic venue anywhere. It is colorful, informative and well-assembled. So between the promotional videos, the website and the brochures left in our hotel room, I have gotten so close to seeing the show.

Great Shot — First Class

You may or may not be as obsessed about seeing magic. You might actually have some balance in your life. So what? I don?t. I need to see, read, hear, watch, learn magic 23/7. (I?m not sure the difference between ?see? and ?watch? in that list but I was on a roll and didn?t want to mess up the momentum that was clearly building until I stopped it with this parenthetical statement). I take an hour off each day to eat, sleep and plan on where my next magic fix will be obtained.

I thought I could get it from The Rick Wilcox Theater. If I could just come close to it, see it, maybe find the magic shop open, that might be enough.

It?s like giving up cigars or chewing tobacco ? again, you might never have a need to give up these vicesbecause you never started.

So what? I do and sometimes, like my addiction to magic, I want to just keep up the addiction and quit the patches and gum.

Like I said, I?ve come so close but am still so far. I know that I?ll have to drive back to Michigan without having seen anything more than the outside of the theater, the brochures, the promotional videos and the billboards. I?m finding that much like the patch or those terrible tasting gums filled with virtually no nicotine, it?s not providing the fix I need.

My wife and son understandably ask why on earth I would want to visit a closed magic theater. They have a point. I don?t know why I would, but I do. I want to even if I know it won?t fulfill me ? a fulfillment that will elude me until I see the show live. Like a junkie in prison drinking oregano and cold water to mimic the quick high of heroin, it isn?t even close, but I?ll take it.

Don?t ask me how I knew about the oregano and cold water (actually nearly iced water) being the equivalent to a fast heroin buzz. Don?t ask me how I would know what a heroin buzz must feel like. I?ve never done heroin (or even any of the precursor drugs that lead to heroin) and never drank cold water and oregano. But, I have missed magic so much that I knew the feeling of deprivation.

If I was in the slammer doing 20 years for ?Improper Palming? or ?Obvious Pass? or ?Improper Use of a Streamer,? I?d probably scour the area for some magic. Maybe I?d start a prison magic club and try to link with IBM or SAM and even book lectures. We probably wouldn?t be allowed any escape acts ? prison being what it is ? but we could do card work and thimble routines.

I have no idea how I wound up talking about booking Daryl into a maximum security prison for a lecture and dealer show when I started out talking about the Wisconsin Dells and water parks and The Rick Wilcox Theater. Oh, right, the theater is my fix but it?s not open so I have to take a substitute fix just like I did (or jokingly said I did) in prison.

Tomorrow, I?ll search again for the theater and look to see if there is any open door or window through which I might steal a glimpse of the stage. What ever I see, I?ll relate to you here. You might save your self the agony of reading the column tomorrow buy just sending me some magic to gnaw on. Then, I?ll have my fix and no one will get hurt.