At the end of April five of the world’s top illusionists will be heading to the Brighton Centre for a spectacular night of mystery that’ll keep you guessing for a long time to come. The cast of Champions of Magic includes international award winners Young & Strange (UK), Alex McAleer (UK), Kayla Drescher (USA) and Fernando Velasco (Mexico/USA), presenting classic conjuring, incredible mind reading, stunning close-up magic and daring large-scale illusions.
In what promises to be an incredible show, the audience will witness the impossible, including disappearances, teleportation and a heart stopping finale, all presented with lighting and pyrotechnics to rival the biggest arena productions.
Recently I had the opportunity to interview Fernando Velasco (by videophone) from his Los Angeles home and I asked him..
What is more fun to do, a “big box” trick or the sleight of hand stuff?
You know, I really love the big visual tricks, if something is very visual I get a real kick out of it but, at the same time, I do love some of the close up tricks too. For example, making the doves appear. Thats’ not like a trick with coins or cards, it’s much more of a manipulation where it’s just you creating the magic without a big box to impress people. It’s actually one of my favourite parts of the act because the birds, they are like my family, and it’s so cool to see the reactions and responses, especially from the kids.
How did you get into magic?
When I was eleven I moved from Mexico to the US and my dad actually works at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, which is like the capital of magic in the world. It’s a members only place but, because he works there as a busboy, he was able to take me in when I was a little boy and I saw magic for the first time and I just fell in love with it. That first day I knew I was “bitten by the bug”.
So, how do make a craft out of your passion?
Oh man, it’s hard. For me magic was my gateway into entertainment. I always loved being in front of a crowd and so I started out doing little tricks and just worked hard at them. Then, at the age of 14 I actually made my debut at the Magic Castle and, after my performance there I met my mentor, who now is my producer, and it was just like a snowball effect from then. A craft came out of it. It stopped being a hobby and it became my life.
Is this something that you now do all over the world?
Well, I have already been on tour twice, all over the country but I only just turned 20. I didn’t go out of the US until after I was 18, so then I started to travel a bit more but this is my first time travelling to the UK.
So, if you are only 20, what is your ambition?
I wanna take my magic all over the world. My big dream is to take my magic to South America, to Mexico, and all those Latin countries and, obviously, after I do that, my vision is to have my own show in Las Vegas and then a world tour. Magic makes people forget about their problems, wherever they are in the world. Youre in a fantasy world for 30 minutes, or an hour, or two hours and it totally surrounds you.
Do you have a favourite trick?
Yes actually I do, but it’s not really magic. I’m doing a very dangerous feat called The Jaws of Death where I hang upside down in a straitjacket and these huge jaws are held open, over me, by a single rope and the rope is set on fire. Once the rope burns through, the jaws will close – so I just have one minute to get free otherwise I am a victim of the Jaws of Death. It’s very exciting!
After witnessing, first hand, the simply incredible mind reading talents of Alex McAleer (I really wish that I could read my son’s mind like he can!) I was also able to ask him some questions about the show…
Can you describe the show that your taking on tour please?
It’s a very big show, there are some bits of close up magic and there are also some of the more grand illusions in the show as well. In the show we have Fernando Velasco, he’s our “classical” type magician but much more contemporary and very stylish.
We are very lucky to feature Kayla Drescher who won David Copperfield’s “Search for the Next Great Magician.” She’s also appeared on television numerous times, including Penn & Teller: Fool Us and NBC’s The Today Show. Kayla continues to push reality’s limits and creates one unforgettable show.
We have me, Alex McAleer, and I do the “mind reading”, the mentalism and our Grand Illusionists, who usually close the show, are Young and Strange (that’s their names!) and they bring the big boxes that do amazing things like vanishes, reappearances and their amazing final illusion when one of them walks through the spinning blades of a huge industrial fan – a trick that has not gone wrong… yet!
When we go to see magic, we know that it can’t be real, and yet it is “real”. How can that be?
Well, that’s the appealing part of magic. You know that what you’re seeing is not actually possible but, somehow, these people can make it seem possible. That’s part of the fun. That’s part of the game that, as the magician and as the audience, we play.
The “hand quicker than the eye” works for the others, but not when you are reading minds.
Very true. What I do is known as Mentalism and that’s just one branch of magic. Magic is the umbrella term and then metalism, hypnosis and manipulation are all parts of that and what I specialise in is the, sort of, psychological side. So, instead of using my fingers to work quicker than your eyes, the process is all internal. I think that’s why it is slightly more mysterious because you can’t see what might have happened there.
How long has magic been an “entertainment”?
Well, the history of magic goes right back to witchcraft. Someone wrote a book about 300 years ago and that exposed how “witches” and some fraudsters of the time were tricking people and it was those tricks that became the first ones that were openly used as entertainment for an audience.
What is the difference between someone who is creating an illusion and someone who is pretending to create an illusion?
Ooh, that’s a very good question. I think it’s the intention, it’s the reason behind the lie. There is a “lie” when you saw a woman in half because, quite obviously, after the illusion she is fine and no one goes away thinking that someone actually died, but with things like some “psychic mediums” who pretend to talk to the dead, well their lies are a bit more unsavoury because, if it’s not true, you could sully someone’s memory and it also calls into question the existence of “another realm” with all the implications there.
And it’s not good entertainment when you’re playing with people’s feelings.
Exactly, and that’s all it is because, in too many cases, the entertainment comes from someone crying about something terrible that happened to them, or to a loved one. I use a lot of the same techniques, but not in a fraudulent way, and the worst thing for me is when the so-called medium isn’t actually very good at using those techniques.
How long does it take to learn magic and then to become a “show magician”?
It’s difficult because the kind of person that magic attracts is not necessarily the sort of person who wants to get up there and perform, but those ones who do very well are actually natural performers before they are magicians. That’s what I am, the showmanship is my favourite part of what I do. Ten years ago my favourite bit was learning all about the mind and how things worked but, now that I have all that knowledge, it’s the showmanship that I really enjoy. So I’m not really sure how long it takes, because it’s constantly evolving.
Have you ever had a real “on stage disaster”?
Not with Champions of Magic, no, but there was one time, I think it was in Tunbridge Wells. I was trying to get the name of the first person this lady had kissed. I was trying to get to that and I was just getting nothing, so I guessed. For some reason the name Brendan popped into my head and so I just picked that – a total guess. I asked her what the name was and she said Keith.
There was nothing I could do about it so I just had to reveal my answer and so I asked her if Brendan meant anything at all to her and she said “That’s my son, and he was the last person I kissed before I came here tonight”. I’m pretty sure that it was just a coincidence, and I wasn’t picking it up from her, but you never know.
Champions of Magic appears at the Brighton Centre on Saturday April 28th. For tickets call the box office on 0844 847 1515, or visit www.brightoncentre.co.uk
