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Dirk Arthur New Show: “More Like Stage Manager than Star”

 

Dirk Arthur and “Beautiful Assistant”

We look forward to Mike Weatherford’s Thursday column all week. He usually has some of the bird’s-eye-lowdown on the magic-skinny in Glitter Gulch.

Mr. Weatherford did not disappoint this week. Actually, he may have disappointed fans of Dirk Arthur with his review of the magician’s new show.

Before we turn to the review, let’s get a lay of the land.

Mr. Arthur has taken over the Tropicana stage recently vacated by our friend Rick Thomas. Mr. Thomas moved up the strip to The Stardust where he shares the Wayne Newton Theater with Wayne Newton. So far, it all makes sense.

Melinda Saxe, the First Lady of Magic and our all-time favorite magician who happens to be beautiful, was produced by her brother, David Saxe. (By the way, Melinda beat out several other beautiful magicians including Francis Willard, Jinger Kalin, and David Copperfield).

Mr. Saxe produces V The Ultimate Variety Show and our favorite The Show Girls of Magic starring Steve Daly as Tiny Bubbles. Mr. Saxe agreed to produce and direct Mr. Arthur’s new show at the Tropicana.

Wayne Newton also appears in the Wayne Newton Theater.

Everything is in order now.

So, what does Mr. Weatherford think of the Xtreme Magic starring Dirk Arthur?

His review’s sub-head gives it away: “Sleight of Hand, Slight of Stature. Dirk Arthur covers up his lack of stage presence with leggy dancers, big cats and bigger contraptions.”

Mr. Saxe and Mr. Arthur worked together to play up the show’s strengths while minimizing is apparent weaknesses. “To compensate for what the star lacks in stage presence, they substitute leggy female dancers, big cats and bigger stage contraptions.”

The pace is quick, very quick. The show is scheduled to run 55 minutes but lasted just 45 minutes the day Mr. Weatherford watched.

Mr. Saxe knows how to put on a great show. He claims he developed an axiom proven successful with his sister’s show. “If you can’t say anything clever, don’t say anything at all.”

Mr. Weatherford was discouraged by Mr. Arthur’s lines. For his final illusion, the magician tells the audience, “I would like to present our final illusion.” When Mr. Arthur appears in the place of another character, he accentuates the moment with the classic, “Hey-Hey!”

(As all die-hard Chicago Cubs’ fans know, “Hey-Hey!” was invented by Jack Brickhouse of WGN to describe home-runs).

Mr. Weatherford observes:

Arthur’s play for headliner status has been hampered by just this inability to create a distinctive star presence. It’s not that he’s unlikable. Just that he’s not memorably assertive.

With his short stature and nasal voice, he comes off more like a cheerful stage manager, guiding the cabinets in and out of position.

Perhaps by the time school lets out and the summer…
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April 15th, 2005 | Category: Magic News | Leave a comment

Andre Kole is to Magic as a Diamond is to Coal

 

Andre Kole

Andre Kole’s peripatetic tour takes him to Belchertown, Massachusetts, this Tuesday at 7:00 pm. We read The Republican of Springfield this morning and learned all about it. The proceeds from this award-winning show will go to the Bethesday Leprosy Hospital in Narsapur, India. Dwight Chapel is sponsoring both the leprosy hospital and Mr. Kole’s performance.

Assistant Pastor Robert L. Hewes is understandably proud of his invited guest. He told the local paper, “Mr. Kole has collaborated with David Copperfield for more than 100 different stage and television show illusions. Andre makes people mysteriously appear, disappear, dematerialize and levitate. He will also put on a unique stage presentation relating to the spiritual dimension of life that will leave the audience inspired.”

The tickets are a mere $5.00 and are available in advance and at the door.

Go figure, $5.00 to see one of the top three magicians in the entire world. So let’s go into the Way-Back Machine and analyze this. In 1945, that same ticket would have cost you the equivalent of 75 cents. Still pretty cheap even then. So let’s go back to 1926, if Mr. Kole were performing the same show for the equivalent of $5.00 in today’s dollar, it would cost you 45 cents.

So if we have our math correct — which is doubtful but we had to include that statement in case we are audited based on the tax returns we are filing today — to see Mr. Kole’s show in 1926 and then again in 1945, you’d be paying some amount of money equal to the value of some other amounts that were either divided or multiplied or something. (We’re more into the conceptual math as opposed to the “results-oriented” system they teach today). Regardless, it would have cost you not much.

So here is the more important analysis. Leprosy has been a plague on this planet for thousands of years. The modern skin disease we call Leprosy today is not the same as the skin affliction in Biblical times but would be a subset of the illness. Regardless of its name, the disfiguring effects are not only dangerous but also usually handled by excluding the victim from healthy society.

What can $5.00 do to assist in the arrest and cure of Hansen’s disease or modern-day leprosy in India? Also, why should we care? After all, we don’t have leprosy.

We would probably all concede regardless of our understanding of advanced conceptual math that spending $5.00 Tuesday night isn’t likely to cure or significantly ease the suffering of men, women, and children living the lives of outcasts in India.

Oh, sure, there is the psychic benefit of dropping a couple of bucks or loose change into a poor box. We’re not preaching to anyone but us. Dropping the money we would otherwise lose in the narrow cracks of our newly upholstered couch mollifies — we feel like we’re helping with the noble fight. But beyond making us feel better for our de minimis contribution to people we don’t know, what good is…
Continue reading Andre Kole is to Magic as a Diamond is to Coal

April 15th, 2005 | Category: Magic Stories | Leave a comment