The business of magic
Credit to Author: YUGEL LOSORATA| Date: Sat, 05 Jan 2019 18:31:19 +0000
Live magic never wears out as a trade because, for one, technology is around to refresh the tricks. And on the part of illusionists making a living out of it, it is, believe it or not, lucrative.
A couple of years back, the legendary David Copperfield reportedly earned a mind-boggling $64 in a fact check that made him officially the richest magician in the world today.
How one earns from such trade can be largely linked to his carved-out reputation. But the general idea is, the art form itself is bankable because of how audiences positively react to it.
Steve Wheeler, the creator of “Magic On Ice” which has captivated Filipino audiences the past couple of weeks, indirectly implied that what really sells the show is not the degree of difficulty that their magic tricks employ, but rather the public view that watching it is an experience worth-paying for.
It’s not about solving the puzzle; but enjoying the magic acts because you are puzzled.
“Majority of the audience enjoys suspending their disbelief. They like to come out, see the show and escape to a world of fantasy where everything is possible,” expressed Wheeler respectably dubbed as “The Voyager” or “Seeker of Dreams,” having received honors for his brilliant fusing of ice skating and grand-scale magic.
Wheeler’s “Magic On Ice,” involving more than 20 people and that same number of act varieties, made waves with hailed performances at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Here in Manila for the first time, it had been extended to this Sunday, January 6, with two more shows (2p.m. and 6p.m.) up on the bill.
The stage spectacle already toured across the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, and it is described as a “unique combination of ice skating and magic.” The creative team behind it worked for world-class events, including the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Irene Jose, COO of Uniprom Inc. that helped bring Wheeler and company here, elaborated: “The show has been extended to give way for more people to come and catch the show, especially those who had to go out of town. We really believe it is a good show and based on reactions of families who have seen it, and the kids who had taken part in it, it is a thrilling show that they all enjoyed. It’s something new and exciting — the mixture of world class ice skating and grand theatrical magic illusions.”
While “Magic On Ice” has gotten Filipino spectators under its spell for more than a week, helped out by strong word-of-mouth from those who have already witnessed it, its success cannot be solely credited to Steve and his team’s performance that unusually took months to prepare. The effect of the seasonal holiday spending and millennial thinking had something to do with it, too.
According to a recent article, emotionally stable people are likely to “spend more during the holiday season than those folks who are not.” It is, of course, presumed that the world is not yet dominated by the disillusioned.
Logically, magic and ice come together during holidays especially in a country like the Philippines where people have this sort of obsession over snow or icy cold weather. Wheeler related, “As we tour the world over, we see something in a particular city and it would spark an idea. We’ll get excited to make that idea our next move and we enjoy the entire process from that spark until it makes the stage.”
As for that millennial mentality, a separate business article surveys that “millennials are most eager to say they plan to spend more this year than they did last year.”
It is likewise helping the magician’s cause that in America, the land where Harry “Handcuff” Houdini became a legend, a government resolution pushed for the consideration that magic is a “rare art form” and therefore should be “preserved and understood.”
The future looks profitable and there’s no disappearing act for magicians doing the trade well.
The post The business of magic appeared first on The Manila Times Online.