One of the most enticing landmarks in Hollywood is the Magic Castle. In the neighborhood of the famous Chinese Theatre, the Magic Castle sits on the hillside smiling over the area (though not so high on the hill as the Yamashiro Restaurant). The building itself intrigues the passer-by with its looks.
What makes the Magic Castle so intriguing and inticing is that it is a private club. You can only get in if you are a member or the guest of a member.
Last night, I and some other friends were the guests of Coleman Luck who is a member, and we had a lovely evening.
I’d been to the Castle before, actually. When I’d been working at Jeopardy! we were treated there at least once. I remember a Christmas lunch for the staff, where we also saw a “close up” magician in one of the performance areas. I seem to recall a second occasion there as well, but won’t swear to it. In any case, I recalled many aspects of the building.
You first enter to the lobby, where they certainly check you out. This is definitely not a place where you can simply walk up and hope to get in. (Nevermind that the only parking is valet parking (paid on arrival) and you don’t really want to walk up the driveway at all — it’s very steep.) They check their lists for expected attendees for the evening (if reservations for dinner have been made, or even reservations for particular performances). A member may arrive without reservations, but you can’t get in without your hosting member (well, you can if special arrangements have been made, but that’s a particular thing).
Anyway, when all our party had arrived (we got there early), we quickly went to the waiting area for the Close-Up Gallery. Coleman had extended the invitation for the evening in order to particularly see the performance of Richard Turner, a master with the cards. His slight-of-hand with decks of playing cards is very impressive under any circumstances. But to top that off, he’s blind. If you didn’t know, you might at the start of his performance not realize it. Either way, what he does with cards is really amazing and a pleasure to watch.
The Close-Up Gallery is just that a very small room, which was why we had gotten there early. Seating is first come, first seated, until the seats, and the few standing-room spots were taken. After that, those still in line had to wait for the next performance.
The performances at the various stages are on the short side. The Close-Up Gallery runs 20 minute shows. Once we had seen Turner, we then went upstairs to the waiting area for the “Palace of Mystery” – a much larger performance room, for which diners were given tickets. Ticketed audience members were seated first, and those of us without tickets waited separately, to take any left over available seats. We were at the head of that line, and so got in for the first performance.
The Palace of Mystery provided a longer performance. Our Master of Ceremonies – and performer – was Thom Peterson, who mixes some stand-up comedy banter with his performance. His fun with mismatched socks was particularly amusing. Female magician, Mystina, gave an engaging performace of transformation illusions (I think the gentlemen in the audience appreciated her outfit – what there was of it). The third performer for this show was Hans Davis, whose specialty is shadow puppetry, using his hands. With a single bright light on the stage and his hands, he created an amazing stream of images on a screen (accompanied by a soundtrack of suitable music and sound effects). It was a delight to see him transform the shadows through a series of different dog heads, and then on to a string of different creatures, including at one point a pair of human lovers edging their way to a kiss. I watched it all, enchanted, and thought of the simplicity of this entertainment — a light and two hands casting shadows on a wall — and yet how engaging it was for the audience. When movie-goers can get jaded about CGI effects in films there is something refreshing to be in a largish audience watching an expert entertain us with nothing more than his hands and a light.
We quickly moved onward to the Parlour of Prestidigitation, to catch the last performance of the “early shows” by Doug Gorman. He begins with an routine that plays upon the jadedness of the audience, with its awareness that there must be some sort of “trick” involved. Once he has you hooked that you “know” there’s something to it, he then proceeds to blow away your certainty by upping the stakes, as it were. More and more and more. You give in and go along with it, because he’s so entertaining about it.
After that performance, we immediately got in line for the next performance in the Parlour. This time, because we were at the head of the line, our whole party, all seven of us, managed to sit in the same row. The performer was Mark Shortland (a Brit) who also used comedy as part of his routine. At one point, he requested the Wave from the audience, and we (our party, that is) didn’t do too well with it – caught off-guard would be the gentlest excuse. So he made us do it all by ourselves (we were in the second row, so our failure was noticable). He had fun with his audience participants with his mix of standard illusions and mentalist games.
By the end of that performance, it was now around 11 p.m. We could have stayed for more, but we were all ready to call it an evening. It was fun to get all dressed up (the Magic Castle actually has a dress code, requiring “evening dress” – no jeans, sneakers or t-shirts allowed!) for an evening at the Castle. If you want to dine, there is quite a menu (at heady prices, though). And at each performance area, there are ready servers willing to bring you drinks should you so desire. As they say, you’re there to have fun.
I really enjoyed the evening and thank Coleman and Carel for the invitation. Definitely a change from my usual routine.
(I should add that no photography is allowed inside the Magic Castle, so these images are what I could find on the internet. “You just had to be there” — the interior decor is quite remarkable!)
