Darcy,
The effect looks great from a theatrical perspective. When I used to perform theater shows regularly, I always had a super dramatic appearance to start the show, and it absolutely helps. I wanted to recycle some advice. About 10 years ago, I handed a DVD of my show to Chris Kenner after a Copperfield show. It was the first night I met him, and his advice was simple. I took every word of it to heart - he was 100% right. The same advice I think would be relevant to you, so I thought I would pass it along.
1. Move everything closer to the front of the stage. When the illusion takes place 20 feet upstage, it's very difficult for the audience to feel connected to it. You lose intimacy. Notice that in Copperfield's show, they push everything as far DOWNSTAGE as humanly possible. When he does the motorcycle appearance, the box is about 6 feet from the edge of the stage. They do that for a reason - it makes a huge difference. Intimacy.
2. Better lighting. Cool intelligent lighting is super fun and adds a concert-like flair to the performance, but when it's that dark and the audience can't see, you could walk an elephant onto the stage without anyone noticing - and the audience knows that. With proper use of black art (or any illusion principle), the audience shouldn't feel like they're too much "in the dark" (pun intended?).
Hope the feedback helps - I'm certainly only offering it as constructive criticism. Overall, keep doing what you're doing. Very nice work. Stage magic needs some new life. Make it happen!
