TV plays tricks with magic trend
It’s no illusion that magic is making its presence felt on TV.
The Illusionists, a band of magic experts from a hit Broadway show, comes to NBC Wednesday (10 p.m. ET/PT) for a one-hour special featuring everything from a futurist toying with technology to an "escapologist" holding his breath for several minutes while trying to break out of an underwater cell.
Viewers of America’s Got Talent may be familiar with some of the Illusionists, who have appeared on the NBC talent competition, and magician Mat Franco won Talent in 2014 and had an NBC special in September.
In other TV legerdemain, aspiring magicians try to dupe Penn & Teller on CW's Penn & Teller: Fool Us, which has been renewed for a third season, and Syfy has an upcoming drama series, The Magicians (Jan. 25, 9 p.m. ET/PT). The drama, based on Lev Grossman's best-selling trilogy, stars Jason Ralph (Aquarius) and Stella Maeve (Chicago PD) as young adults who attend a secret magic university.
Futurist Adam Trent of The Illusionists, who sees people of all ages attending the stage shows, senses a resurgence of magic.
“I think there absolutely is a growing interest in it,” he says. “There’s a lot of good magic out there lately and a lot of amazing magicians performing now, across YouTube, touring live, in comedy clubs, on Broadway.”
Syfy hopes The Magicians can build on the books' fan base. Bill McGoldrick, who oversees original content for the cable network, says the novels are an adult-oriented version of the Harry Potter story.
“The books had the kind of buzz that made you sit up and pay attention,” he says of Grossman's story of young-adult life. “Kids who grew up watching Harry Potter are probably starting their first jobs, realizing how complicated life is. They’ll recognize a lot of their real lives in our show.”
McGoldrick senses a connection between interest in magic and a more complex world.
“The world is complicated and we all wish there were magical solutions to a lot of the problems out there,” he says, adding that The Magicians doesn’t offer easy answers. “In some shows (and films), magic is the solution to all your problems. In our show, that’s not always the case. It’s not as clean, it’s not as tied up with a neat little bow.”
The Illusionists special builds on longstanding magic tradition with modern technology and stagecraft, executive producer Simon Painter says.
“Cirque du Soleil reinvented circus using modern theatrical techniques. We tried to do a similar thing with magic. We took things that have been around hundreds of years and contemporized them with giant LED screens, pyrotechnics, camera work and a live band,” he says. “People are always searching for things they haven’t seen in a while, and most of the audience has never seen magic.”
Besides futurist Trent and escapologist Andrew Basso, NBC's Illusionists, which was filmed at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, features Jeff Hobson (The Trickster); Yu Ho-Jin (The Manipulator); Kevin James (The Inventor); Jonathan Goodwin (The Daredevil); and Dan Sperry (The Anti-Conjuror).
Painter acknowledges that people who see a performance on TV may be more suspicious than those who see it in person. “When there’s cameras involved, people don’t believe it. We tried to keep the essence of the theater show. We did a lot of one-camera shots, and there were no camera tricks.”
Trent says The Illusionists offers varying styles, including dangerous magic, comedy magic and grand illusions.
“I try to take magic that perhaps has been done before and present it with a slightly different twist,” says the magician, whose performance includes LED walls, an audience member’s cellphone and “a new version of a Polaroid camera.”
The Internet and social media have had a big effect on magic, opening the door for legions of budding practitioners while making it challenging for illusionists whose tricks are examined repeatedly, Trent says.
“A lot of magicians have to YouTube-proof a trick. It’s got to be airtight and bulletproof,” he says, adding that success requires more than deception. “You come to a magic show, you want to be fooled. You also want to be entertained. You want to have a good time.”