Hocus Focus
Finding the emotion of magic
By Tim Wassberg
Every art form has an emotional connection. Music and motion. Art itself. Painting. Literary. Fine art. It is all an emotional response. Comedy. It is about the emotion of “wow” which is a pretty strong emotion. I always wanted to give magic that same kind of feeling, not only with the “wow” but also with the inspiration and the thought you get from music, drama and all these other things.
David Copperfield is renowned the world over as the undisputed gentleman of magic. Over the decades, he has wowed audiences both on TV and on stage with his prowess in making magic both experiential and epic including such illusions as the disappearance of a jet airliner as well as the Statue of Liberty. He continues to be a legend of Las Vegas at the MGM Grand alluring audiences with both his intellect and interactivity that make his shows a must see.
Casino Player spoke with Copperfield about evolution of his voice, challenging himself in a new world of technology and finding the essential emotion of magic.
Casino Player: Can you talk about the evolution of magic in recent years?
David Copperfield: So many people have come first. [Harry] Houdini for example. They are famous because they made their mark. There is a track of change they did as individuals. For me, I have gone through many different changes in magic as far as how people thought of it throughout my career. I continue to do that today. It is very frustrating if you have to copy other people. I think magic only evolves [through interaction]. In my show for example, magic happens when two people in the audience…maybe they’re on their phones…you interact with them; you make them feel part of it. Magic happens in the middle of an audience; it’s location, surrounded by people. It is not like people are watching a show where they are used to seeing things but, instead, it is happening next to them, happening right around them—to them. But, of course, there are classic things that never die. People always like what is going to push the art forward in some way.
CP: You are a historian of magic. In fact you are known to possess the only known recording of Houdini. What do you need to see and respect about the forefathers of magic to move forward?
DC: I don’t really make it an effort to pay homage to the past. I do what is going make the audience happy and excited, especially with doing 15 shows a week with no days off which I did all summer long for 11 weeks. The only time I pay homage to the masters of the past is if it is material that still works, still lasts and still plays to the crowd. Everything else is about pushing forward and being fresh. The balance is struck between what the audience loves and also keeping some of the classics. The full effort is trying to not letting that stagnate. Hopefully people like the things that I do and it’s all good.
CP: Could you talk about the rhythm of magic since there is kind of a musicality to it?
DC: I think that is a good point. It is kind of like music. You know I was watching Chris Rock, and he doesn’t do magic so much but his better routines on camera are kind of like music. They have a rhythmic style. I am not sure he planned it but it comes off that way. Music in and of itself has highs and lows and a bridge and a chorus. It is part of the heartbeat of what the audience feels and sees. And magic, when it is at its best, has a musical base and subtext. There is also a rhythm that goes beyond the music I might have as an accompaniment. The music comes from the rhythm of what I am doing. And when you achieve something great, you find that somehow, subconsciously, there is a special rhythm the audience feels.
CP: You have a great devotion and experience with magic. What do you have to do to keep people on their toes with all the new technology available to them?
DC: The technology of cell phones—that is new for magic—especially in where you place it in relation to the audience. Story structure [is important as well]. I have a story I tell about my father which is a signature of what I have done. It is all about personal stories.
CP: Can you speak about the emotional connection of magic to an audience?
DC: Every art form has an emotional connection. Music and motion. Art itself. Painting. Literary. Fine art. It is all an emotional response. Comedy. It is about the emotion of “wow” which is a pretty strong emotion. I always wanted to give magic that same kind of feeling, not only with the “wow” but also with the inspiration and the thought you get from music, drama and all these other things.
CP: Can you talk about the correlation in your brand of magic between sound and image?
DC: It’s funny. Even lousy movies have beautiful design. Some bad movies have beautiful art direction. That is how important art direction is in movies. There is something to be said for simple things or the absence of visual things. I think the combination of balancing both simplicity and simple magic allows people to communicate and understand better, yet also gives them a spectacular [responsiveness] which requires thoughtfulness on what they are seeing visually.
CP: However, even the simplest aspect of technology and visual stimuli can be used to misdirect.
DC: Times have changed. People before would look at the inside of curtain cabinet for 20 minutes with nothing around them but an orchestra playing while they waited for someone to escape. You’d never get away with that today. You have to keep an audience captivated and the bytes of information come at you much more rapidly in most cases—not all, but most. There is a kind of a pace that is expected now, especially with all the clutter on TV. You definitely have to pay attention to that when you are designing things.
CP: Can you talk about the importance of the vibe of venue or location, especially when you are performing in Vegas compared with, for example, your magic getaway island in the Bahamas?
DC: I originally was touring a lot and I will go back to touring at some point. But in Vegas designing illusions [is competitive]. There are 300 shows to choose from literally (chuckling); not five—300. People go to be entertained and you have to think about that. In the Bahamas, on the islands, all the experiences for guests involve magic. There are magic shows that turn into a magic treasure hunt and secret passageways and things like that. Musha Cay dot com is the website if you want to check it out. But [with location], you really have to have your own voice. You have to be very special, very fresh and always new.
CP: Can you talk about your “voice”? When you say “David Copperfield”, there is expectation. How do you outpace that?
DC: It has really evolved and keeps evolving. My idols at the beginning were Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, Orson Welles and Walt Disney, so all my magic was stories—of romance; big epic stories really inspired by movies. But then I started doing super big illusions like vanishing airplanes, vanishing statues walking through Great Wall [of China] and floating over the Grand Canyon—stuff like that.
It became about that and TV pushed that. Then, at one point, it became about these dance numbers that were sensual and were reflective of the music. I found my “voice” in that. And then I started writing about my own personal life and was encouraged to do stories about myself, and then other people. In my way, I was trying to take magic to new places and inspire people because all of us as ordinary people can do extraordinary things.
