Reza
I was very excited to see a magician live in Branson. My father and sister are big fans of magic, but had never heard of Reza. After looking him up online, he has a great reputation and career. He has been on different TV shows and had shows across the country.
What I have come to learn is that each magic show is completely different. They pick a persona and vibe. For Reza, he seems to be going for rockstar terror. All of the music choices, outfits, and props made him seem like a “bad boy”. He had a few motorcycles and a trick with fire.
As for terror, some of the tricks he performed made the audience fear for someone’s safety. Sometimes the fear was for him and sometimes it was for one of his assistants. The show was entertaining and had a wide array of illusions and tricks performed.
Modern vs. Stereotypical
To me, it seemed like Reza made his show modern and unique with the rock element. Most of the other elements seemed to fit in with the stereotypical norm of a magic show. The assistants were beautiful women that danced around the stage to rile the crowd. Each of the assistants seemed to have at least 10 outfit changes. They always matched the big prop for each illusion, whereas Reza had one outfit for the first half and another for the second.
At times, to keep with the terror theme, the illusion performed was with his assistant. Watching a woman be cut in half, or in his case, chopped into 9 pieces is expected. It was not expected to watch a woman be thrown through a massive fan or be impaled by a screw. For these tricks, while the illusion was impressive, I found it extremely hard to applaud.
I was not alone. The audience did not seem to understand when it was the proper time to clap. Admittedly, we saw this show at 8pm on a Wednesday evening. The majority of the crowd seemed to be on a group trip from a senior center. I was surprised to see them at a rock magician’s show.
The Best Trick
The final trick was one that you could see on America’s Got Talent. There were multiple participants with random questions and a box that had remained at the front of the stage throughout the entire show. When Reza pulled out the envelope, it had all of the answers the participants gave. Not only this, there was a man who struggled to think of a candy bar that answered his question, and therefore a second question was asked. Reza pulled out both candy bars that the man mentioned on top of the written list.
Overall, I would definitely go see a magic show again. Next time I will know to look more into the magician and their persona. I would love to see a comedic magician.
Challenge
Think about a hobby you used to have as a kid that you no longer have. Is it something worth picking back up?
