Magic

During the April WoV convention I will be with a friend who wants to see a Vegas Magic Show. I have seen Penn and Teller and thought it was just average. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I thoroughly enjoyed David Copperfield. I highly recommend that show with the good seats.

I also enjoyed Copperfield. I had terrible seats (for cheap), but still thought it was fun. I imagine it is even better up close.

I once sat 'too close' (1st or 2nd row) at Copperfield's show. A couple of the bigger illusions were somewhat ruined becuase you could hear them wheeling things around, etc. We did enjoy the show.

Go to Blue Man Group instead. It's like magic mushrooms for your brain.

ZCore13

Quote: Zcore13

Go to Blue Man Group instead. It's like magic mushrooms for your brain.

I agree. If you and your friend have not seen their show already I would put it above any magic show. I would put it before any other Vegas show except your first cirque show.

Quote: Zcore13

Go to Blue Man Group instead. It's like magic mushrooms for your brain.

ZCore13

I've seen it. Liked it, not loved it. Unless someone else makes a new suggestion, it will be David Copperfield.

Quote: SOOPOO

I've seen it. Liked it, not loved it. Unless someone else makes a new suggestion, it will be David Copperfield.

The only thing better is Cirque then. I've seen Copperfield. It's good, but I thought Cirque and Blue Man were better. The Cirque I saw was the Beatles one. Great music!


ZCore13

Quote: Zcore13

The only thing better is Cirque then. I've seen Copperfield. It's good, but I thought Cirque and Blue Man were better. The Cirque I saw was the Beatles one. Great music!


ZCore13

Thanks. I have seen many of the cirque shows and liked them all, of course to varying degrees. I loved Absinthe. But friend specifically asked for magic show....

Not a shill but Nathan Burton actually puts on a great magic show. Tickets are always cheap. Just don't show up dressed as Murry Sawchuck.

Quote: SOOPOO

Thanks. I have seen many of the cirque shows and liked them all, of course to varying degrees. I loved Absinthe. But friend specifically asked for magic show....

Ok fine! :) You're stuck with magic. My top choices for a magic show would be Penn & Teller, The Mentalist and then David Copperfield. You're going to know how many of Copperfield's tricks are done or be real close to knowing. You're mind will be blown if you go to The Mentalist.


ZCore13

For a slightly different magic show, you might try Mac King. He appears at Harrah's, doing two afternoon shows five days a week. It is kid-friendly comedy magic, not a big production with a lot of smoke and mirrors. The magic is good and the comedy is mostly on the 3rd grade level -- if you aren't laughing, then you were never in the 3rd grade. Even if you go see David Copperfield (I have seen him, but not in Vegas), you might check out Mac's show one afternoon, too.

Everyone gets to see the show from up pretty close, and tickets are always available at a discount. This site sells the tickets for $38.45, but right there on the page is a link for "$11 off + free upgrade." Other such promos are available all over.

Quote: Doc

For a slightly different magic show, you might try Mac King. He appears at Harrah's, doing two afternoon shows five days a week. It is kid-friendly comedy magic, not a big production with a lot of smoke and mirrors. The magic is good and the comedy is mostly on the 3rd grade level -- if you aren't laughing, then you were never in the 3rd grade. Even if you go see David Copperfield (I have seen him, but not in Vegas), you might check out Mac's show one afternoon, too.

Everyone gets to see the show from up pretty close, and tickets are always available at a discount. This site sells the tickets for $38.45, but right there on the page is a link for "$11 off + free upgrade." Other such promos are available all over.

I was also going to recommend Mac King. You can usually get at least 2 for 1 tix, and depending on your player status, almost always get free tix (almost no play required for them). Comic magic, low-key.

Copperfield. Best I've seen.

Quote: beachbumbabs

I was also going to recommend Mac King. You can usually get at least 2 for 1 tix, and depending on your player status, almost always get free tix (almost no play required for them). Comic magic, low-key.

The Las Vegas Advisor also reports, as of this month, tickets are only $9.95 (or was it $9.99), even if you pay for them.

Quote: Mission146

The Las Vegas Advisor also reports, as of this month, tickets are only $9.95 (or was it $9.99), even if you pay for them.

He's pretty funny, but like a lot of things in life, you get what you pay for. There is a reason his tickets are so cheap and free if you play some penny machines at a Casino.


ZCore13

If Mac King was so bad he wouldn't have been performing on the Strip for 20 years.

He's not bad, but he's not in the same class as Copperfield, Penn & Teller and many other brilliant illusionists. He is to magic what Adam Sandler is to acting. Fun to watch. Good show, but not mistaken for the top of his craft.


ZCore13

Yeah, he's not a headliner, but he's a solid show for part of an afternoon. I was disappointed seeing David Copperfield, but it's been about 8 years, and it wasn't in Vegas. Maybe he's better with a home base; this was a tour production. He did a couple of tricks standing next to me, and I saw how both were done. He's better from a distance, I think.

Quote: beachbumbabs

Yeah, he's not a headliner, but he's a solid show for part of an afternoon. I was disappointed seeing David Copperfield, but it's been about 8 years, and it wasn't in Vegas. Maybe he's better with a home base; this was a tour production. He did a couple of tricks standing next to me, and I saw how both were done. He's better from a distance, I think.

Yeah, as far as I know, he was/has never been know for spectacular sleight of hand. I remember being told by my parents Lance Burton was the best they had seen for the up close stuff.

I saw David Copperfield perform at 7pm at the MGM Grand last Saturday, 11/30.

SPOILER ALERT: Stop reading now if you don't want a few surprises in the show to be ruined.

First off: he put on a great show, I enjoyed myself. My only complaint is that there was some emotional drama added (David reminisces about his relationship with his father) and this melodrama felt forced, contrived, and cheesy. Also, an annoying space alien (a small puppet that looked like Yoda) appeared on stage but this puppet wasn't any more interesting than the animatronics at Disneyland. Nevertheless, many of the magic tricks were exceptional.

I would divide the magic tricks into 2 separate categories: visual illusions and premonitions. The visual illusions (for example: giant objects magically appearing out of thin air) were terrific. In fact, I won't spoil them here, because it helps to have an element of surprise.

However, the premonitions were initially impressive as I watched them... but then as the show wore on it became obvious how he did those tricks: he used shills (actors posing as audience members.)

The first trick of the night (7:05pm) was to ask everyone in the audience to send an email using their smartphone to David Copperfield. At 7:20pm, David replied with an email to every audience member. Embedded in the email was a photo. We were not permitted to use our smartphones for the rest of the show. But when the show ended, we all opened the email and viewed the photo that contained text describing events which hadn't happened yet.

So how could an email sent at 7:20 include information about events that occurred at 8pm? Actually... it's possible to upload a new photo into an email that has already been sent. I know this because at 7:05pm Tuesday (not Saturday) I re-sent my email to David, even though I was hundreds of miles away from Las Vegas. At 7:20pm David responded, but the photo in the email was vague; no details. I waited until 9pm Tuesday and re-opened the same email... and sure enough the photo had changed! The new photo had all the premonitions.

An "audience member" selected at random (she was a paid shill) had been asked to name a celebrity, and at my Saturday show, this person happened to pick Brad Pitt. Interestingly, the "randomly selected audience member" on Tuesday night also happened to pick Brad Pitt. (Here's the email photo from a 2018 performance, and you'll notice that the "randomly selected audience member" also happened to pick Brad Pitt. Wow what an amazing coincidence!)

I was sitting behind this Brad Pitt-loving shill at the Saturday show, so after the show I attempted to talk to her. A stagehand intervened and whisked her away before she could answer me. She was a good actress, but there were just too many tells.

So these premonitions weren't impressive, because the only magic in the trick was "selecting them at random." (David threw a ball and instructed whoever caught the ball to re-throw it to a different part of the auditorium, and the ball was thrown 3 times, ensuring that the final volunteer was random. I actually don't know how this part of the trick was done, because even professional MLB or NBA players occasionally screw up an easy throw or easy catch. The actress' "husband" caught the ball, and in doing so he knocked a middle aged woman on to the ground. I presume that the middle aged woman wasn't an actress.)

So if you go see the show, have fun, and be prepared to watch some actors and actresses pretend not to be actors and actresses.

Thank you for the spoiler alert. May I ask how much the ticket was?

Fifteen years ago, give or take a few, I was seated in the outdoor bar at Harrahs when Mac King was hawking tickets to his show alongside two beautiful showgirl. I went over and introduced myself, telling him I'd seen his show a half dozen times. We chatted for a minute and I offered to buy him a drink. He demured and said he would buy me one instead. With that, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a cold Michelob Light.
Either he walks around with different beers in his jacket on the off chance someone offers to buy him one , or I was somehow set up, or......

Saw David Copperfield 15-20 years ago. Figured out maybe half of his tricks, but as you say, he was pretty good.

The one that still bugs me is the dancing handkerchief. He was standing 3 feet from me, as it's close-up magic, and I could see the mechanism. If it's close-up, it shouldn't be so damned obvious, but maybe it was an off night for him. Idk.

Quote: billryan

Fifteen years ago, give or take a few, I was seated in the outdoor bar at Harrahs when Mac King was hawking tickets to his show alongside two beautiful showgirl. I went over and introduced myself, telling him I'd seen his show a half dozen times. We chatted for a minute and I offered to buy him a drink. He demured and said he would buy me one instead. With that, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a cold Michelob Light.
Either he walks around with different beers in his jacket on the off chance someone offers to buy him one , or I was somehow set up, or......

Hehe... better a cold beer than a live goldfish...

I saw Lance Burton back in the 90's. I knew how almost everything was done since I was hardcore into magic back then, but it was still a good show. Half of his schtick was card manipulation, which is still unbelievably impressive even when you know how it's done. We met him after the show and he was a pretty nice guy. Actually took a few seconds to talk to each individual person with a smile on his face as he was signing autographs.

Quote: Ayecarumba

Thank you for the spoiler alert. May I ask how much the ticket was?

I got 2 tickets for $173 with fees/taxes ($87 each). While shopping for tickets I noticed that www.vegas.com and www.tix4tonight.com had significantly lower prices for the same seats than the MGM Grand website. At the MGM Grand website, those same 2 tickets would have cost $232 ($116 each).

Copperfield is staggeringly wealthy: net worth $875 million. (He owns 11 islands.) His annual income is about $61 million, though I don't know how much comes directly from MGM and how much comes from private appearances at corporate events & Bar Mitzvahs. Assuming MGM pays him $1 million per week, my guess is that the casino loses money on ticket sales.