"The Illusionists" seems so much like a Vegas revue that you half expect that it comes with an all-you-can eat buffet. And when we say Vegas, we mean something old-school like the Flamingo, not the swanky Bellagio.
The show's stars have names like the Inventor, the Anti-Conjuror and the Warrior, and pose for their Playbill cover like a team of superheroes. But behind the too-cool-for-Hogwarts attitude and the funky live band is a conventional family show big on sleights of hand, visual illusions and audience participation.
Jeff Hobson's Trickster is the one most likely to pull you up from your seat. So proudly fey that he makes Liberace look butch, Hobson combines the gift of gab and the gift of grab — the first has you laughing and distracts you from the second. Judging by the way he makes wristwatches disappear, he might be better called the Bamboozler.
Like Hobson, Yu Ho-Jin's Manipulator is a traditionalist, although in a completely different mode. Video close-ups of this young Korean's long, flexible fingers make his card tricks seem poetic in their abstract purity.
Kevin James, the Inventor, in "The Illusionist."Photo: Joan Marcus/Press art
His stylistic opposite is Adam Trent, a winner of Syfy's "Wizard Wars," whose chatty Futurist comes across as the eager-beaver dude next door, making him both friendly and not very distinctive. He and Kevin James' cuddly-uncle Inventor have the lowest wow factors of the evening. Trent's interaction with video screens is underwhelming, while James seems like an extra member of "MythBusters."
And then there are the literal one-trick ponies. The Escapologist (Italy's Andrew Basso) pulls a Houdini: Handcuffed, he's suspended upside down into a tank of water, armed with only a bobby pin to free himself. Belgium's Aaron Crow, a k a the Warrior, shoots a laser-enhanced arrow through a ring stuffed inside an apple. Both acts have big build-ups and relatively deflating payoffs.
Basso in "The Illusionists."Photo: Joan Marcus/Press art
Dan Sperry's Anti-Conjuror, on the other hand, has mastered both sides of the magic biz: He's created a compelling stage persona and revitalized old-timey feats. A Marilyn Manson look-alike, he talks so fast that he dizzies the audience throughout a Russian roulette involving paper bags, a broken bottle and a nervous, randomly chosen mark.
He also performs an act with live doves. Happily, this isn't an Ozzy Osbourne show and the birds retire with their heads intact.
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