Las Vegas Review-Journal: A couple of things you will see on Syfy’s “Wizard Wars” Tuesday that you don’t see in Las Vegas:
A) New illusions created in a competitive setting, not just the same old stuffing of women into cabinets and stabbing them with swords.
B) The larger illusion that young, attractive people actually sit and watch young, attractive people perform magic in cool nightclubs.
“We did kind of build this ideal magic venue,” Rick Lax says of the latter, created in the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner building that’s seen new life for film and TV production.
5 comments:
A lot of the draw for 'Wizard Wars' is what was mentioned in the article: the "behind the scenes" look at the magic being done. It's a new look at basic magic performances. Just like the show 'Fool Us', where Penn and Teller attempt to guess how the magicians did what they did and if they can not, the magicians win, this backstage look at the magician's craft is what draws most fans to the shows. Whereas for Vegas shows, people go to be entertained.
So as for the claim that shows like 'Wizard Wars' staging live productions in Vegas helping the declining magic industry, I don't think it will pan out. The concepts are so different, it will be hard to translate it to the stage and still get the same effect.
As the article vaguely mentioned, magic has difficulty succeeding because for the most part all magicians rely on the same bag of tricks. We know they are not magic, so we spend the entire show looking for the hidden strings and false bottoms in top hats trying to figure out the trick, and so we lose the effect of the whole show. People like to be awed, but they don't like to be tricked, which is why 'behind the scenes' shows do so much better than their serious counterparts. I don't think anything can help the magic industry as it is. It's a remnant from a simpler time.
That said, I saw the production of "The Tempest" at the A.R.T. that collaborated with Penn and Teller to create magic effects. Slight of hand magic is still an incredible art, and I found myself blown away by the production. Magic needs to update itself and move into other genres in order to succeed with new life. However, reality TV is not the magic cure they're looking for. It is by definition ephemeral, and cannot possibly be the support that they are looking for to keep the magic industry from toppling.
Right concept, but wrong medium. I wonder though how successful this venture will be; if "stage magic" isn't selling, why will audiences tune in to what they have essentially deemed a dying art? I'm not entirely sure that the magic industry can necessarily stand on it own anymore. Olivia's point about integrating magic into other productions and forms is very accurate, I believe. We still want to see magic, but the magic alone is not enough. As Olivia said, she was blown away by the *production* as a whole, which was enhanced by the magic. So much of what we do today by way of technology is "magic". What impressed crowds so many decades ago simply will not impress a crowd so far removed and evolved from the audiences of magic's heyday.
I really like the idea of showing the magician's process of how to build new, innovative, and exciting tricks. That allows for people to see just how much creativity and craftiness goes into producing magic. However, I think that by televising the show, it kind of defeats the purpose of experiencing magic live. Why would people go to Vegas to see a magic who like this when they could just watch it from home along with a built-in behind-the-scenes aspect you wouldn't get at a live show? Plus, this also seems like yet another way Penn & Teller have made their presence representing magic in the entertainment industry. I think that the premise of the show is hopeful to matched "Chopped", but Bravo's "Shear Genius" also thought it would match "Project Runway" and that only lasted one season.
I think that TV shows like this one are exactly what can refresh and revamp the magic entertainment industry. While it’s not something that may be super popular right now because it’s seen as an outdated and less than glamorous thing, it can totally be brought back. Competition shows that focus on “educating” people about a certain craft work! People like to watch all the Food Network competition-based series, they watch Face Off even though they probably know nothing about makeup. I believe that with the right concept, a good marketing approach and the identification of the right audience, just about anything can be sold not just as a product but as a way of life, a style. If all the magicians in this show are young, hip and funny, then they will have access to a really wide audience of people who probably don’t care about magic at all. Ultimately, I think that successful TV shows rely on the concept and “packaging” as much as the content. It’s all about creating a hype, and it sounds like Wizards War can do that and even foster interest for magic.
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