Among the major holiday attractions currently available in the city, you can see the annual Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, a new rendition of A Christmas Carol on Broadway, a revival of Slava’s Snowshow also playing in a Broadway house, the Classical Theatre of Harlem’s A Christmas Carol in Harlem, and the New York City Ballet’s The Nutcracker.
Arriving later this week at Madison Square Garden is ‘Twas the Night Before …, a new spectacle by Cirque du Soleil.
Meanwhile back on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre there is The Illusionists: Magic of the Holidays. Some of you perhaps have attended earlier versions of The Illusionists franchise, which sends out traveling magic shows that feature half a dozen or so performers.
Other than the production’s décor, which sprinkles snowflakes, candy cane colors, and similar seasonal images among its video projections, and the prerecorded music, which rearranges traditional carols, there’s little else particularly holiday-ish about this Magic of the Holidays.
But there is magic onstage, of course, or at least six magicians of various kinds performing in this two-act event, and together they conjure up some easygoing entertainment.
The show is more or less emceed by Paul Dabek, a fast-talking British chap whose snazziest trick involves toast, which he terms a “deck of carbs.” Scarcely magical, but certainly cute to observe, is Dabek’s expertise at creating with his hands and a spotlight a parade of large shadow images of animals.
Eric Chien, a winner of Asia’s Got Talent, offers remarkable sleight-of-hand feats with coins and playing cards. The close-up details of Chien’s act are captured by a handheld camera operator and simultaneously projected upon a large overhead screen. So, too, are the show’s other acts shown on the screen.
Dom Chambers, an America’s Got Talent semi-finalist, is a cheerful Australian bro who plucks or pours glasses of beer from unlikely places. Enzo Weyne, a charmer from France, suavely deals in several David Copperfield-type illusions such as the one during which he disappears from one location and instantly materializes in another spot.
Chris Cox, a lanky Brit who favors a bow-tied geek image, is a mind reader who somehow is able to identify audience members’ professions, birthdays, addresses, and even their most recent meals. If Cox’s high-energy personality soon becomes a bit wearing, his ability to coax responses out of tongue-tied strangers remains admirable.
An avuncular figure in his frock coats, Kevin James makes several appearances during the show. James’ specialty appears to be flashy variations on slicing people into segments and smoothly reassembling them. In one charming sequence performed in an aisle, however, James fashions a flower from a crumpled piece of paper, which he then levitates with the help of a very young spectator who, magically, takes an actual long-stemmed rose back to her seat.
Director-choreographer Neil Dorward neatly rolls out this series of acts. The show flatly ends without a bang, and Magic of the Holidays really might benefit from adding a conclusion that would involve all of the artists in some kind of a magical throw down or grand finale. As it is, it’s a nice enough event for the family crowd, but scarcely an attraction that will create lingering holiday memories.
