We hyped this weekend's magic show christening the new evening schedule for Northville, Michigan's Marquis Theater.
We
just returned from beautiful downtown Northville and are anxious to
tell you of our experience. The place was nearly packed — great
news for Losander, Jeff Ezell, and Rudi — but we doubt our article was
filled the seats.
The Marquis was first opened in 1900, seats
500, and has restroom facilities capable of accommodating four
simultaneous users of either gender.
So we had a chance
to see a great show in a beautiful, historic theater nearly sold-out,
and discuss the performances with our new found friends in the restroom
line running across the small lobby.
Losander and Rudi
worked the first half of the full-evening show. We hadn't seen
Rudi before tonight but look forward to seeing more of him in the
future. Mr. Losander has been a Quinlan's Inside Magic favorite for years and was the stand-out from last year's SCAM convention.
[Visit Mr. Losander's beautiful web site here].
The
show began with Mr. Losander's classic levitation effects. His
manner and attention to detail is so perfectly matched to the effects
presented we soon stopped thinking of how he could accomplish the
illusion and began to appreciate the magic as real.
That is quite a compliment. We often bemoan our loss of innocence.
As
was mentioned by a young woman with only a first name during one of our
evening meetings, "once you've tried crack, mere inhalants lose their
wonder."
We've never tried crack but that's not because we hope
to preserve the wonder of inhalants — we've never tried huffing or
sniffing either. We offered the quote as an analogy of lost innocence
and wonder — not an endorsement of any drug or mind-altering
substance.
Once we learned the secrets behind the magic, we lost the feeling of wonder responsible for our study of this grand art.
So
watching Mr. Losander perform is an opportunity to return to a more
wonder-filled time. We really believed he could animate or
levitate any object on the stage.
We can't say that about many
other magicians we've ever seen. We've been entertained by
others, or even fooled, but never so mystified as when Mr. Losander
performs. He is and does real magic.
Mr. Losander's
levitation routine is followed by two routines requiring audience
participation. He begins with the vanish and reappearance of
table salt poured into his cupped hand.
Here the wonder came from
watching the lay-audience's reaction to a standard of magic. Mr.
Losander's charm and humility makes the salt routine a special showcase
for a very likeable man.
Using the same method as the
salt routine, he performs his now-famous vanishing and reappearing silk
effect. With the help of an audience member, Mr. Losander caused
a large red silk to vanish from his hand, vanish from within a larger
black silk, and reappear in a different spectator's wallet.
Mr.
Losander teaches this routine in his lecture and the moves are not
difficult, but the moves could not be detected this night. Once
again, we were taken in by the magic and had no thought of the method.
Mr. Losander introduced his fellow countryman, Rudi, to the enthusiastic audience.
As we mentioned earlier, this was our first exposure to Rudi.
There is probably some applicable international standard definition for
Rudi's performance like "juggler," "clown," "slapstick comedian,"
"unicyclist," or "funny guy with big shoes."
We're not up on the
latest classification system and so we'll describe him as a man of many
talents, who clowns without make-up, rides unicycles of varying heights
and in varying difficult scenarios, and is a consummate professional.
Under the old pre-metric classification system for performers, he would have been an A-1 (Total Package).
Rudi's character reminds us of a Cirque du Soleil
master of ceremonies but less distant or aloof. He worked so well
with audience members and yet he said almost nothing to his
volunteers. He was able to convince a beautiful young woman to
join him on stage to sit on his shoulders whilst he rode his unicycle
in erratic patterns suggesting he was about to crash.
Rudi's
a stud. The audience was on his side from his first site gag –
pulling a ten-foot pole from his pants. We have seen so many
"clowns" work this type of routine but with the exception of Avner the
Eccentric, we've not seen any with Rudi's complete skill set.
We hope Rudi will work in the US more often.
Check out Rudi's web site (in German) here.
We
solicited reviews from those in line for one of three restrooms (each
accommodating up to one patron at a time)during intermission. One very
anxious young woman said "the first guy (Losander) was a better
magician but the second guy (Rudi) was funnier."
[She
didn't actually say "the first guy -- open parenthesis, Losander,
closed parenthesis -- was a . . ." We put Losander and Rudi's
name in the parenthesis as a helpful guide to understand her
statement. Please don't thank us, it is the very least we could
do and what more can any writer do for the reader than "the very
least"?]
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| Losander |
Her simplistic but very accurate analysis of the first
half could be excused given the great patience she showed waiting for
the line to move.
Houdini once said, "No man can remain
in a coffin under water for more than one-hour and twenty-two minutes
unless he went to the bathroom first." Harry Truman followed on
this thought with "I was like a man who woke up in his coffin just
before the funeral. If I am alive, what am I doing in here?
If I'm dead, why do I have to use the restroom so badly?"
The second half of the show started a little later than scheduled to permit all to return from the lobby and facilities.
Jeff
Ezell has the credentials we can only dream of claiming — much less
legitimately earning. He is consistently one of the top magicians
at The Magic Castle, has an extensive and impressive client list including Nancy Reagan, Pam Anderson, Teri Hatcher, Tom Cruise, and Lucy Liu.
You can view Mr. Ezell's web site here.
He opened his set with a very impressive silent manipulation routine,
moved into a great rope routine with moves reminiscent of rising-star John Sturk.
We loved his "blending" of the short piece of rope into the larger
length. As he worked the smaller piece, it visibly grew shorter
and appeared to become one with the longer strand. This may be a
well-known move but not to us. Mr. Ezell's set was
unfortunately plagued with technical problems that marred his
presentation.
The microphone was either not on or set so low that
we were unable to hear some of his patter. The volunteer for his
effect using The Thought Transmitter failed to draw a figure or
word as instructed — Mr. Ezell was able to partially cover this
incident by showing his prediction was also blank.
In another
effect, the prediction sealed in a randomly selected envelope may or
may not have matched the passage selected by a volunteer — the
audience could not read the unsealed prediction when held up for view.
We enjoyed his version of the McDonald's Aces, McDonald's Blankety Blanked.
The close-up effect was broadcast to a screen on stage and looked
great. Mr. Ezell's finger rings on almost every finger of both
hands was a little distracting but we got over it and enjoyed the great
view of outstanding card work.
Mr. Ezell's set and the show ended
with a blindfold reading routine. His eyes were covered with
half-dollars, duct tape, more duct tape, and a blindfold whilst an
assistant asked audience members to write personal information on index
cards.
The cards were collected and placed in an on-stage basket from
which Mr. Ezell removed and crumpled one card at a time. While
holding the crumpled card, he proceeded to provide biographical
information matching the card's author.
Unfortunately,
Mr. Ezell's assistant as well as the audience member who applied the
blindfolding left him alone on the stage. He was required to ask
the audience to direct him towards the table and the card basket after
each selection.
Because he was alone on stage and putatively
blindfolded, he had no choice but to ask for the audience's
directions. Even upon finding the table, locating the basket, and
selecting a card to be crumpled, he was forced to open the card
and hold it in front of his chest to offer additional readings.
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| Losander & Rudi |
We
think this routine would have been more powerful — and it was a very
strong effect — had either the audience volunteer or his assistant
stayed on stage with him.
It was unfortunate the show had
to end on this weak note. Mr. Ezell is clearly talented and
charismatic. The technical problems once might expect during a
two-day run at a new theater took away from what seemed to be a very
entertaining portion of the evening's show.
Perhaps knowing now
the logistical challenges he had to face, Mr. Ezell would close with
one of his other effects — such as his beautiful rendition of Snowstorm in China
or even the silent manipulation act. Mr. Ezell's professionalism
and class was evident in spite of the technical problems and that is
saying a lot.
Albert Schweitzer (or someone famous) commented
"Life, like a magician's show, is meant to be seen on a full
stage." Tonight's show reminded us why we love magic so much. Our
envy and desire to be on stage was held in check by our enjoyment and
wonder.
Continue reading Magic Night at the Marquis – Losander, Ezell and Rudi
Nate Kranzo is a Quinlan's Inside Magic Favorite. We love his stuff and so when he passed along news of a convention, we figured it had to be important. 
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