Calling Derren Brown: Secret a magic show is like calling Hamilton a patriotic historical pageant. Yes, there’s magic in this new offering at the Cort (produced, incidentally, by two of the lead purveyors of that equally magical revolutionary musical now and forever ensconced at the Richard Rodgers). But you go into a so-called magic show in reasonable expectation of card tricks, vanishing ladies, coins-pulled-from-ears, and the like. Brown, a mild-spoken and ingratiating 40-something mechanic of misdirection from England, offers none of the above. No rabbits out of hats; he doesn’t even have wear a hat. (Does anybody wear a hat?)
What you get is mental magic, sleight after sleight after sleight. Because Brown is a master showman, he doesn’t just astound you. He starts off small, leaving you to turn in your seat to your companion to whisper, “How’d he do that?” By midway through the show (a neat two hours, plus an intermission that allows patrons to clamber across the stage), you are cordially nudging your random neighbor to ask, “How’d he do that?” By evening’s end, you’re practically shouting out the question on the sidewalk.
(Historical Aside: As we spilled out onto 48th Street following the Thursday night preview, we ran smack dab into one of the present-day commander-in-chief’s paid attorney-spokesmen, looking like a cadaver painted with caked TV-camera makeup, being escorted by an overfed security guard from the neighboring Fox News building. Perhaps Mr. Brown should focus his prestidigitational prowess on making them disappear? But we digress.)
[Read Elysa Gardner’s ★★★★ review here.]
Brown, whose career has been boosted by frequent appearances on British television, is no stage amateur: He has made seven West End visits, picking up twin Olivier Awards for Something Wicked This Way Comes (2005) and Svengali (2012). Derren Brown: Secret, his first U.S. stage show, premiered off-Broadway in April 2017 at the Atlantic Theater Company. I found it astounding at the time, and am pleased to say that it has increased in effectiveness at the thousand-seat Cort; with more than thrice the patrons, the spell is even greater. (Live video is used in the show, as before, but now the video allows actual participation by even those in the second balcony.)
As for audience participation, yes—there is a lot of it. In fact, it’s safe to say that there’d be no show without it. Is it mandatory participation, likely to embarrass recalcitrant patrons? No; rest assured, those of you in that boat (like the present reviewer) need not be tentative. Audience plants? You might think some of these participants need be plants, given how handily Brown forecasts their responses. But apparently no. Dozens participate, pulled from all corners out of the auditorium. Consider the logistics of seating 50 plants, forfeiting ticket revenue for dozens of seats and actually paying them all for nightly participation. Can’t be done. What’s more, Brown selects many of his participants by hurling Frisbees into the house. Try to pre-plan that.
Does a second visit “spoil” the magic, or at least give away Brown’s Secret? Not in the least. If anything, it makes the show even more impressive. What we have here is an evening of mystifying extemporanea that is, in fact, carefully and meticulously assembled; the better to clout the patrons over the head with some astounding pre-planned feats, which Brown gleefully springs on us. The star requests, from the stage, that we don’t spoil the fun for future audiences, so that’s as much as I shall divulge.
How’d he do that? That’s not the point. As the show progresses, you can try to figure out the tricks (and there are a few that, on consideration, are comprehensible). But why let that detract your attention from Brown’s compilation of magical marvels? It’s more fun—way more fun—to just sit back, on the edge of your seats, and allow yourself to be thrilled.
Derren Brown: Secret opened September 15, 2019, at Cort Theatre and runs through January 4, 2020. Tickets and information: derrenbrownsecret.com
