Hello Everyone,
Last night I opened up a stage show for the first 20 minutes. It was only my 3rd time performing up on a stage for an audience over 150. There were other performers after me (total of 5). Tom Craven who is an outstanding performer was the headliner. It was for our IBM Ring banquet so it was for many magicians and their family members.
I learned a lot from this experience as I always grow and learn from each performance.
I opened with a funny "monkey bar" routine with a pet monkey that swung from rope 1 to rope 3 and back in slow motion to Chariots of Fire music. The crowd was roaring with laughter. Of course I then used the gimmick to make the monkey swing to rope 2 and everyone cheered loudly.
I then took a sling shot mini monkey and fired him out into the crowd to pick out my next volunteer who then ran up on stage as "I've Got the Magic..." played. I performed Eric Mead's Jumbo 52 on 1 card effect with a mirage deck (forcing the 5 of clubs) and had all of the cards "fall off" the jumbo back leaving the one forced card remaining.
David Ginn's You're the Star Routine followed that with a male adult and a 5th grade girl up on stage. I had the theme song "Are you Smarter than a 5th grader?" playing for the intro to that. This routine always packs flat and plays big for kids and adults alike.
My finale was Duane Laflin's Crystal Clear ESP routine with a teenager boy up on stage with some cool music from the movie TRON.
After watching the rest of the show I went out to eat with two professionals and I basically just told them, "Rip me apart and tell me the good the bad and the ugly. I wanted brutal honesty and they were nice enough to give it to me.
1.) Monkey bar routine and sling shot monkey out into the crowd was great! Keep it as is.
2.) Eric Mead's Jumbo 52 on 1 routine didn't play out as big as it could have because the auditorium was a bit large and people sitting from the middle to the back couldn't even see that card I had left remaining on the jumbo card was the forced card. Both offered a better way to improve this!
3.) David Ginn's You're the Star Routine is funny but the spectators don't get to pick the words that are spelled out.
4.) The ESP routine didn't fit with my "funny" character that I had set up with the 3 prior effects.
I thanked them and listened to their words of advice.
I think all of us need to be able to take some constructive criticism and also be able to give it to our magic friends as well. Don't sugar coat something just to make someone feel as if they did a "great" job. Give them honest feedback to help better them.
I was VERY nervous because I am 99 percent of the time a close up worker and my club wanted to see how I could do up on a stage. All in all in was a great time and super experience.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope that a few of you gain something from my post.
Last night I opened up a stage show for the first 20 minutes. It was only my 3rd time performing up on a stage for an audience over 150. There were other performers after me (total of 5). Tom Craven who is an outstanding performer was the headliner. It was for our IBM Ring banquet so it was for many magicians and their family members.
I learned a lot from this experience as I always grow and learn from each performance.
I opened with a funny "monkey bar" routine with a pet monkey that swung from rope 1 to rope 3 and back in slow motion to Chariots of Fire music. The crowd was roaring with laughter. Of course I then used the gimmick to make the monkey swing to rope 2 and everyone cheered loudly.
I then took a sling shot mini monkey and fired him out into the crowd to pick out my next volunteer who then ran up on stage as "I've Got the Magic..." played. I performed Eric Mead's Jumbo 52 on 1 card effect with a mirage deck (forcing the 5 of clubs) and had all of the cards "fall off" the jumbo back leaving the one forced card remaining.
David Ginn's You're the Star Routine followed that with a male adult and a 5th grade girl up on stage. I had the theme song "Are you Smarter than a 5th grader?" playing for the intro to that. This routine always packs flat and plays big for kids and adults alike.
My finale was Duane Laflin's Crystal Clear ESP routine with a teenager boy up on stage with some cool music from the movie TRON.
After watching the rest of the show I went out to eat with two professionals and I basically just told them, "Rip me apart and tell me the good the bad and the ugly. I wanted brutal honesty and they were nice enough to give it to me.
1.) Monkey bar routine and sling shot monkey out into the crowd was great! Keep it as is.
2.) Eric Mead's Jumbo 52 on 1 routine didn't play out as big as it could have because the auditorium was a bit large and people sitting from the middle to the back couldn't even see that card I had left remaining on the jumbo card was the forced card. Both offered a better way to improve this!
3.) David Ginn's You're the Star Routine is funny but the spectators don't get to pick the words that are spelled out.
4.) The ESP routine didn't fit with my "funny" character that I had set up with the 3 prior effects.
I thanked them and listened to their words of advice.
I think all of us need to be able to take some constructive criticism and also be able to give it to our magic friends as well. Don't sugar coat something just to make someone feel as if they did a "great" job. Give them honest feedback to help better them.
I was VERY nervous because I am 99 percent of the time a close up worker and my club wanted to see how I could do up on a stage. All in all in was a great time and super experience.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope that a few of you gain something from my post.
