Follow Magician Rick Thomas to the edge of his dreams just for the thrill of it. Its more fun than just another magic show. It’s a trip into a world of imagination and the very art of dreaming itself.

First there are white 500 pound tigers roaring across the stage, birds appearing as singles and doubling into pairs before your eyes, napkins turning into birds, and girls turning into tigers. It’s a classic show full of disappearing motorcycles, beautiful women being levitated and sawn in half, old silver ring tricks, and even some great card tricks. But wait, there’s more!

Suddenly the music comes up and Rick is ballroom dancing with his assistants. Wait, I thought Rick Thomas was just a magician? Well, why not dance since his mother and father spent their lives as dancers and Ballroom dance judges? Rick started his dance career at 5 and was twice crowned US Junior Ball Room champion. It’s a strange mix of two worlds, but somehow it works with the magic, like when he plops a blond wig on a microphone stand, levitates it, and waltzes ‘her’ around his dance floor.

Then he brings children into his dream world and on to the stage. A boy levitates a female assistance he has just hypnotized, and then is offered a DVD teaching him how to make is parents disappear. A little girl flies a table around the stage and then is told “The future belongs to those who believe in the strength of dreams.” Rick gives her a small round box to store the magic and her dreams in.

Oh yes, and don’t miss Rick’s “Amazing Shrinking Tiger” trick. It’s how magic should be done.

The show lasts more than a hour but really, like most great adventures, it’s over too soon. Rick tells me after the show, while greeting his guests, “The audience has to find out who I am in only an hour.” I think he accomplished that trick. Rick Thomas is a charming, classic and imaginative magician offering an original program well worth the time and the moderate price of admission demanded by the Hotel. His show is worthy of any Las Vegas theater and one you may not soon forget, especially in your dreams.

by Bethany Dixon

In the second row of Harrah’s Showroom Theatre, ten-year-old Micah Oka says, “My favorite trick is when you tell your friends’ future with their shoe. You hold the shoe and you say: You are going to go for a short trip verrrryyy soooooon…” He pauses for effect and stares very seriously over his Harry Potter-like glasses. “Then you throw their shoe so that they have to go get it! Get it!?” Micah grins, delighted. He’s been reading magical comedian Mac King’s books for half of his life, and getting the chance to see his mentor live is making it difficult for him to sit still. His enthusiasm is contagious, and the buzz in the purple and gold theatre is electric from those who know what they are about to see.

The Mac King show at Harrah’s Showroom Theatre is a stand-up comedy magic show. Mac King includes volunteers from the audience, a few props, and a surprising camping guest in his one-man act. The show has been running at one and three in the afternoon Tuesday through Saturday since January 11, 2000. He is also known for his “Mac King’s Magic in a Minute,” the nationally syndicated Sunday comic strip that he co-creates with his brother, a graphic designer. Mac King’s particular brand of magic is extremely popular with young readers because of his line of Magic in a Minute kits that include props and easy to follow instructions. Mac King also wrote “Tricks with your Head: Hilarious Magic Tricks and Stunts to Disgust and Delight,” with how-tos on making your head disappear, poking a fork into your eye, and giving a cat “chiropractic” care. He also holds the 2004 Guinness World Record for the longest game of telephone ever played.

Looking at the audience doesn’t give you any idea of what to expect from the show. Some are dressed for church drinking bottled water and talking in low voices. Others rush to the bar to make sure they have enough libations for the next 70 minutes. There are grandmothers and teenagers, young marrieds and bachelors on an all-boys getaway. The lights dim and “If You’re Happy and You Know it, Clap Your Hands,” plays over the loudspeakers. Nostalgic, the trio of businessmen in their thirties behind me stamp their feet and shout hooray with the local seventy year old couple to their left. When the curtain rises, the showman faces an audience already laughing and clapping.

“Howdy, I’m Mac King,” he says with a shrug and a smile. Mac King hails from Kentucky. His twang coupled with his plaid used-car-salesman-chic suit will make your sixteen-year-old think that the show is going to be a snoozefest. But, Mac King pulls everyone in with his first rope trick, and the crowd is on the edge of their seats for the next hour. He pays attention to his audience, and they return the favor. He acknowledges the interrupting whoops and hollers when an onstage volunteer tells him she’s from Ontario, and quips, “Everyone’s a Canadian.” Another volunteer writes her name on the back of the card instead of the face, ruining the trick. “Could you come back every time and do that? It’s funnier that way,” he says.

Mac King is remarkable. He has put together a refreshingly (but not squeaky) clean show. The only PG-13 material is told so that it sails over the kids’ heads and you don’t have to worry about questions on the way home. In fact, the only question they will be asking after the show is, “How did he DO that?!”

He makes us laugh by putting on his ridiculous yellow raincoat of invisibility and impresses us later when he really disappears. When the lights come up after his encore trick, Mac King waits in the lobby and greets his audience, thanking them individually.

“Tell your friends about my show,” he says, “I’d like to keep this job.” He shouldn’t worry, anyone who sees him perform will be talking about it. Mac King’s act is one of Vegas’ treasures. Signed with Harrah’s in 2000 for a two-year contract, The Mac King Comedy Magic Show has currently been extended through 2011. As they are leaving the theatre, Micah and his friends go to the stage and pick up snipped pieces of the rope from his opening trick, examining the ends. “It’s just plain, cotton rope!” “How did he DO that!?” “I’m going to keep it and see if I can figure it out!” They tie the ends together and rush out to the lobby to wait in line and ask him personally.

Mac King is exciting and funny on stage and off. He’s working with Spread the Word Nevada, Inc., a nonprofit corporation working to distribute books to underprivileged and at-risk children. Audience members are encouraged to donate a new or gently used book at the show to receive a free autographed Mac King Tricks With Your Head book.The organization focuses on giving books to keep, not just to check out from the library. “The looks on their faces,” he says with a smile, “It’s like getting a pony.” I thanked him for the interview and he shrugged like he did when he introduced himself on stage for the first time and said; “It’s not anything really spectacular…it’s just me.”

Mac King’s Mayberry-flavored show would never be considered edgy. He doesn’t have scores of special effects coordinators or body-painted dancers high-kicking in sequence. His magic doesn’t require mirrors, smoke, or caged animals. It’s glitz-free, and it’s not very Vegas. But Mac King can rely on something that a lot of Vegas performers go without: both a passion to share with the audience and a talent worth sharing. It’s nice to see a show that doesn’t pretend to be more than it is. Mac King is a magician and a comedian. And the funny thing is; he’s magic.

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• Master Magician Lance Burton Tickets

by D.W. Grant

It’s true what the ads say, “You’ll never forget Lance Burton, Master Magician.” And you’ll never forget this marvelous evening, either, if you take full advantage of the Monte Carlo experience and make it a magical night for your entire party, date, or family.

First trick, make your old Hyundai feel like a limousine and your party feel like first class guests; valet your car. Practically speaking, it saves parking time, only costs you a couple buck tip, and it makes everyone feel that much more special.

Next trick, come early to pick up your tickets and share dinner at the Market City Cafe. Its a fine little Italian restaurant with quick service and lots of helpful friendly staff. If you’re on a budget take your family to the Food Court. McDonald’s is only a hop-skip-and a levitation away.

In a flash you’ll be walking past the “Super Lotto” machine and into the $30 million dollar Lance Burton Theater, a classically designed red velveteen palace built to elevate your appetite for getting “amazed.”

Lance Burton is a world champion hall of fame magician who does amazing things in surprising ways. You’ll be applauding from the first bird suddenly appearing from a burning candle stick to the last act when he flies away in his “Back to the Future-ish” Corvette. During this magical journey you’ll experience classic magic moments, thrilling contemporary illusions, laugh a lot, and even learn a little about the history of magic.

He tears newspaper and birds fly out of the scrap, he burns magazine covers and birds fly out of the ashes, and from out of no where he fills the stage and theater with ducks, geese, and pigeons, including “Elvis,” a little bird with a big act.

Lance pulls kids out of the audience and makes them levitate and disappear and then gives them magic gifts when they reappear and come back down to earth. He also uses his show girls to full effect, making them appear and disappear at his will, in and out of some pretty fantastic costumes, in several very exciting production numbers . He even turns one of them in to gold!

There are also clowns, policeman, native american illusions, and a sexy levitation scene that you may or may not have to explain to your kids later. Comic juggler Michael Goudeau gives Lance (but not the audience) a break in the middle of the show by first juggling bean bag chairs and then getting far more dangerous and hilairous to the end of his brief show.

But maybe Lance’s best magic is done with the audience. As he wanders out to talk with his guests his Kentucky accent is fun and friendly, and his off the cuff jokes are funny as well. You really get the feeling that meeting his audience is magic for Lance too.

After the show you can’t miss visiting Lance’s Magic Shop where Bob Massey will entertain you and then encourage you to buy the tricks he is doing “They’re right over there,” he says pointing to various products hanging on the wall all around you and him. Its fun even if you don’t buy anything. But maybe you should, just to take a little more magic home with you.

End your adventure eating ice cream at Haagen Das, also in the food court, or back in the Cafe for an Italian desert. As you’re waiting for the valet to bring your car look up and watch the people scream on the roller coaster circling the New York New York Hotel just next door.

Don’t forget to tip your Valet and enjoy the memories conjured up for you by Lance Burton, master magician.

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• The Amazing Johnathan Picture Gallery
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• The Amazing Johnathan Performing At: Sahara Hotel and Casino

The Amazing Johnathan

Reviewed September 19, 2005
by Nancy Hruska

Well it looks as though conventional magic and traditional punch line comedy have viciously been tossed out a 20 story hotel casino. Their replacements? Shameful jokes, psychic strippers, humiliated audience members, bad karate theatre, and the revival of the lost art of foam magic. The perpetrator? The Sahara Hotel and Casino’s own Amazing Johnathan.

When it comes to competitive top Las Vegas shows, a comic magician who is undyingly abrasive with absolutely no sense of shame could be a recipe for disaster. But in Johnathan’s show, where nothing is sacred and no act too vile, this guy is just pure genius.

The Amazing Johnathan has had more appearances on TV than any other comic/magician in history and was also named Las Vegas’ “Comedian of the Year” in 2002. Why all the hype over such a bizarre character who drinks Drano as part of an act? Simple. His impulsive style and outlandish humor is unlike that of any other show- this stuff could not possibly be rehearsed.

“Do something funny!” says Johnathan as he leaves his victim (audience member) on the stage all by himself under a spotlight in front of a full house. Horrifying for anyone, but only as small part of Johnathan’s self made career of humiliating people and himself alike. And the house clings to every degrading moment. The combination of dirty jokes, simple ridiculous magic tricks, the F word, and insane asylum material is for some reason unquenchable for onlookers. It must be if the house doubles over at “sometimes I run around naked so I’ll drink some Windex to prevent streaking.” And low and behold, he does.

Whether Johnathan “the Freddy Kreuger of Magic” knows it or not, he is obviously displaying one major theme throughout his work: Ordinary magic and comedy are boring and must be exploited to the fullest extent of his twisted laws. So the less than ordinary have arrived, including but certainly far from limited to the following examples: Tanya the Psychic Stripper. A new kind of magic assistant, lovable, voluptuous, and wickedly dumb. Harry. Johnathan’s ex-partner and real rabbit that gets on the mike does a bit that’s out of this world. Foam magic.

Johnathan’s claim to anything but fame. His mysterious art of shape changing foam that has no validity in the illusion world but the concept is so mad that people love it. But Johnathan’s most exciting feature in his wacky entertainment is far from crazy and shows the very humane side of Las Vegas’ mad man of magic. Half of all Amazing Johnathan paraphernalia goes to the Make A Wish Foundation. Perhaps he’s not that insane after all.

Choreographed dialogue, mapped out stage direction, diplomatic jokes, manners, and standard drinks are not allowed in the door. One should not enter the showroom if sensitive to ground breaking creative material that specializes where the sun doesn’t shine. But if one dares to let loose in Amazing Johnathan’s world, they’ll be the lucky few to step out of the limited boundaries of conventional magic and comedy.

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Xtreme Magic Starring Dirk Arthur

Reviewed July 20, 2005by Nancy HruskaThe Tropicana’s very own Dirk Arthur lives up to his “extreme” reputation in the most outrageous ways a Las Vegas magic show could dream: big cats, helicopters, trains, and heart pumping theatrical effects. Dirk Arthur has added some extra quality ingredients to the already renowned mind-boggling illusions. His fast paced show is also capable of reminding his audience of the mystery of magic through timeless, classic tricks and humor suitable for all ages. In addition viewers get a sneak peek into the humanitarian side of Dirk Arthur- It looks as though his cats reserve the right to upstage anyone.

Dirk arrives on stage in a less than conventional fashion for the opening act- fabricated from thin air in a smoking glass chamber. One of his Bengal Tigers is introduced early for an act called “Stripes” where the Tiger’s stripes are removed. Dirk has the honor of making over his Tiger but only after it is practiced on the outfit of one of his dancers (because this just certainly isn’t Las Vegas without beautiful dancing girls in feline outfits). Audience members are not only floored by the illusion itself and it’s majestic stars, but by Dirk’s fun filled fact stating these animals can carry 3 times their weight up a tree.

Dirk takes a break from his “wild” side for some old school audience participation card tricks. “The spirit of Houdini” involves absurdity and awe through the use of Houdini’s dentures. A card is picked and the magic chops reveal to the audience the selected card in a most outrageous and entertaining way. (Houdini is one of Dirk Arthur’s roll models and his spirit is brought back again later in the show for an escape bit involving a straight jacket, chains, and an industrial drill as tall as the Tiffany showroom moving straight down for Dirk. Hopefully his studies on Houdini were diligent.) However, before the audience is even able to finish clapping for this cute number, Dirk makes a Robinson Helicopter appear from who knows where and everyone’s heart rate is back up to maximum beats per minute. 007, eat your heart out.

Nothing says magic like dismembering beautiful women. Dirk takes the old knife to a box trick to a whole new level of disbelief. Girls dance through the ages in flapper dresses and poodle skirts to a sad fate of losing at least their legs. The only thing worse than losing the lower half of your body, would be having yours switched with someone else. Dirk is not afraid to mix and match tricks, or limbs for that matter.

But this is only a tiny taste of the magical feast that Dirk sets for all his bewildered audience members. His show simply won’t allow rest from chair-gripping magic. But after all the explosions, smoke, and applause, it’s obvious who remains the true Dirk Arthur muse- his Tigers. A video segment from an Animal Planet special is played for the audience revealing that Dirk views the animals as “colleagues, not cats.” He truly feels privileged to work with the species, “his friends.” So even though Daily News has named him “a rival to David Copperfield” and even though he exits his own party at Tiffany Showroom on an Amtrak train arriving from nowhere, Dirk Arthur may very well be just a simple cat lover before a charismatic man of magic.

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The Illusionary Magic of Rick Thomas

Reviewed Nov. 15, 2003 by Ted Newkirk
Magician Rick Thomas just celebrated six years of wowing crowds with his afternoon show at The Tropicana. I’ve seen the show before and this great show just gets better with age.Rick takes the audience on a magical journey, weaving music, magic, dance and exotic animals that in many ways is more reminiscent of an evening show, but without the evening show price. If you’ve seen the show before, you have two great reasons to see it again. New Illusions “Street Beat” and “Incredible Shrinking Tiger.”

For Street Beat, Rick explains the new illusion is a change from the traditional magic that he performs. Four of Rick’s talented female dancers take the stage for an upbeat dance number donning white leather jackets, shorts and knee-hi boots.

After their dance, the girls begin waving racecar type flags with flames on them. Rick then appears standing on a platform in a black leather jacket. The girls wave the flags again and Rick appears seconds later atop a Harley style motorcycle. All in the blink of an eye and the wave of the flags.

Incredible Shrinking Tiger is a change from the “Oh look, an animal vanished from one box and appeared on another” routine. Thomas performs in Japan from time-to-time, and the cost to transport just one of his full-size tigers is an overwhelming $15,000.

What if … he could shrink the tiger to save on transportation costs? Leading a full size tiger into a box, Rick shrinks the box by collapsing it sections at a time. The box gets smaller before our eyes until he opens it, and out comes a much smaller tiger. Unique indeed.

I won’t give away anymore, except to say that he hasn’t abandoned the elements that make his show worth seeing time and time again. A couple is brought up on stage only to have the wife accidentally smash her husband’s watch, only to get it back later in a unique way. Classic acts like levitation and magic rings are performed to perfection and fun to watch again and again. The showgirls add mild sexy spice that is family friendly.

This show is truly one that all ages will enjoy, and with tickets starting under $20 (plus tax/fees) you can bring everyone along without breaking your vacation budget. Whether you are looking for the trappings of an evening show at an afternoon price, or you just enjoy breaking up your Las Vegas vacation days with some afternoon entertainment, you won’t be disappointed.

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David Copperfield

Reviewed October 7, 2002
by Ted Newkirk

I’d like to call David Copperfield a living legend. If you are old enough to gamble you have seen him do everything from walk through the Great Wall of China to make the Statue of Liberty vanish on his famous television specials. However, I won’t. “Living Legend” sometimes connotes a respected performer, past their prime, churning it out for the buck. Mr. Copperfield is still very much at the top of his game.

He’s either a great actor or still loves what he is doing (probably a bit of both) because from the minute he hits the stage, he’s having fun and that makes you want to like him. He could be a nobody just starting out and you would like him. But he gets right into it with an illusion that has him floating upwards through a plate of steel.

I was lucky enough to get some pretty nice seats and was close enough to the steel to see how solid it was when both Copperfield and a couple of audience members banged and beat on it. I was close enough but at just enough of an angle to see how thin the performance table was, and that there was no escaping out the back or room to slide aside. Through the steel he passed.

Naked magic just feet from the audience on a very bare stage. And that was the first of many illusions that truly still have my head spinning. I’ve given up even trying to conjecture on how he pulled most of these off.

We have all heard about magic shows rigged with audience members to pull off the gags. To insure us otherwise, Copperfield twice used very, very random methods for picking out audience members. For one segment, he tossed numerous Frisbees out at random. OK, so maybe he is a champion Frisbee thrower and manages to perfectly hit his audience plants (highly unlikely).

These show goers picked lottery numbers at random only to have them not only appear from a sealed box (“predicted” before the show — the box was hung high above the stage right before the show started). This segment included the appearance on stage of a full size vintage 50’s convertible as part of a story line about Copperfield’s grandpa who would play the lottery in a quest for his dream car. The car appeared so quickly on a
spacious stage with full sight lines above, below and to the sides and audience members standing behind. Remember, these were audience members who had caught randomly tossed Frisbees.

For another segment, 13 silver beach balls were hit out into the audience and bounced around until music stopped (although a few kept going a little longer — it was party time). These audience who had them when the music stopped were brought up to the stage, seated in a huge box, and the box was draped with a large sheet. They vanished only to reappear in the back of the theater moments later!

Space does not permit detailing the many other fantastic illusions or the warm, funny, and sometimes sexy humor. But the show is called Portal because of one singular illusion that is worth the price of the show itself:

We are shown a live video feed from a beach in Thailand. Surf, sand, water and some of Copperfield’s people whom he interacts with are on the beach live. Could be a prepared video, but the interaction includes some random specific conversation pertinent to the evening. Audience members sign and hold a huge postcard on stage, with a Polaroid taken. Copperfield chooses an audience member who had written him a heartwarming letter (you guess this guy is part of the show, but it doesn’t take away from the illusion). Another audience member chosen at random writes two letters on Copperfield’s arm, letters chosen at random from another member.

Copperfield and the audience member who wrote the letter are then whisked away in a blink of an eye to appear on this beach on the other side of the world. In their possession is the Polaroid and the people in it are still standing on stage for comparison. The letters are on Copperfield’s arm. They are kicking around in the sand and the audience member who had just been on stage in Las Vegas is running around in the water.

You know what? I don’t want to know how any of this was done. I barely scratched the surface of how deep and spectacular this show was because words can’t describe it. If you watched a couple of “Fox Magician” specials and think you can figure out any trick, I challenge you to see a Copperfield show. If you just want to be amazed by a legend and a show you will truly never forget, you must see David Copperfield.

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Reviewed February 26, 2002 by Ted Newkirk

I won’t deny that I’m pretty jaded. I know virtually every casino layout like the back of my hand, and have seen almost every single show, some multiple times. All Vegas TV reporter Elizabeth Rizzo will confirm that I was checking my watch during a recent visit to EFX, and this despite the fact that Rick Springfield has kicked it up a notch and EFX is once again a show worth seeing.

This makes it an even more pleasant surprise when I run across a show that delivers the goods for a decent price, and Showgirls of Magic keeps the promise. Take an intimate showroom, four beautiful ladies, magic, dancing, and hilarious specialty acts you are have a winner. You won’t be checking your watch — you’ll be forgetting time exists enjoying this fast-paced entertainment.

Showgirls have been a part of Las Vegas since the Rat Pack days and before, but generally in “window dressing” capacity. This is one of the first real attempts to capitalize on the complete performing talents of a set of showgirls and actually make them the stars of a magic revue. It’s worked unusually well as they run through a variety of eyebrow-raising illusions such as Houdini’s Metamorphosis, levitation, and a double rendition of “sawing the girl in half” with an interesting clothing switch thrown in.

Because of the modest showroom size, you won’t see larger-than-life scale illusions but this actually works in their favor. When sitting 42 rows back in the middle of 3000 people, it is tough to tell what is truly happening on stage (with regard to “magician’s secrets”). Here, you are close enough to see the area around the illusions and see
the entire stage. If you ever thought these tricks were just camera angles when you saw them on TV, now is the chance to be truly mystified “right before your very eyes.”

Long time cast member Antonio Hoyos, one of the specialty acts, provides comic relief as “The Great Antoine.” Hoyos is “vertically challenged” and his mime-like shtick as a second-rate vaudeville magician provides some good laughs. Showgirls also features other specialty magic acts in addition to Hoyas which are subject to change, as many seem to rotate from one show to another. However, they always seem to get top acts.

Although the magic is great, they give equal attention to the “showgirls” moniker with well choreographed dance numbers performed in a variety of sexy costumes (topless during the second show). For a smaller showroom, they have gone to great care to provide good lighting and sound to give the show a “big production” feel.

Showgirls of Magic features both family (covered) and topless performances. It is the same great show, but geared at slightly different audiences. The covered version is still sexy with some bare buns and double entendres from the comedy acts, but generally suitable for both teens and grandma.

The topless performances (later show) tend to draw more of the “party crowd” specifically looking for the classy adult entertainment that Las Vegas is now known for. The dancers are naturally beautiful, fun, sexy, and tasteful. Although NOT a strip club atmosphere, the topless show is a good alternative to hitting a strip club for that group of guys out on the town. Everyone will have fun, no one will have to lie to their wife, and the ticket price still leaves plenty of cash in your wallet.

Showgirls of Magic plays at the San Remo Hotel Casino, just across from the main entrance to the MGM on Tropicana Avenue (next door to Tropicana Hotel). Side Note: The San Remo is a “best kept secret” as a nice, comfortable, slightly upscale property with great dining values and a friendly staff.

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Mac King at Harrah’s Las Vegas

Reviewed February 28, 2001 by Ted Newkirk

Mac King has been playing Harrah’s for over a year, shouldn’t need an introduction. He has appeared on television shows ranging from “An Evening At The Improv” to all five of NBC’s “World’s Greatest Magic” specials. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, upon seeing him you will remember him as “the guy who did the funny magic on TV.” And funny, Mac King is!

He takes the stage in a vintage plaid suit (vintage early 1900, not vintage disco era) with a story about a rope trick his grandfather taught him. You’ve seen rope tricks before? Not presented quite this way. From the first moment, you can tell that despite his sometimes silly demeanor, he has the craft of magic down.

King brings out an old fashioned chest containing his props and you never know what he is going to pull out of it next. Unlike Carrot Top, whose props are the joke themselves, Mac uses everything from worms to goldfish to a box of cereal to a stuffed tiger to perform “how did he do that” magic while leaving you laughing in the aisles. The finale is a “tribute” to Siegfried and Roy in which he makes both himself and a stuffed tiger disappear that reappear in a funny but spectacular way.

Eschewing assistants, King interacts with members from the audience using volunteers to help him in a couple of his more impressive illusions in this one-man show. It is pretty clear these aren’t audience plants. In fact, if you see this show the day or two after your wedding, you might end up on stage helping in the “Cloak of Invisibility” trick where Mac puts on a yellow rain coat, tells us to pretend he is invisible, then moves cards from the new wife to the new husband without touching either of them.

This is one of the best show deals in town. Period. Plus, it is a perfect way to break up your afternoon gambling or sightseeing (or just recover from that “all-I-did-eat” buffet), give your feet a rest and your mind some refreshment. The show is suitable for all ages, but I’d suggest 12+ to grasp the quick humor involved.

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“Master Magician” Lance Burton

Reviewed April 19, 2000

Updated March 17, 2004 by Ted Newkirk

You have probably seen Lance Burton on T.V. countless times. He’s been a semi-fixture on The Tonight Show, dating back to Johnny Carson who called Lance “the best magician I have ever seen.” More recently on everything from Hollywood Squares (where he is now a semi-regular guest) to programs on Animal Planet network. He’s graduated from an ongoing guest spot in Folies Bergere to his own to his own show in the Lance Burton Theater of the Monte Carlo and continues a very successful run.

The show started with the clip from his last television special in which he was chained to the tracks of the infamous Desperado rollercoaster in Primm (40 miles south of Las Vegas). It is arguably the tallest and fastest in the world. While he was able to work his way free, he couldn’t hear his assistant’s time counts and was nearly killed. Even in slow motion, you could see the coaster missing his feet by inches as he jumped free.

Lance it a traditional magician, not relying on lasers and tigers so much as classic magic taken to a new level. He does make himself flatten and vanish in a twist on the old rabbit from a hat routine that fills the stage with machinery (and his beautiful assistants). In an aviation themed illusion, his showgirl assistants manage to appear/disappear into a suitcase placed on a table in the middle of the stage. Nothing above, below, behind… and no way they could all fit. Wow.

While the big scale illusions are incredible, his personable way of close-up magic helps set him apart. A staple of his show is often when he invites children from the audience (I mean just about all the children … 20 or more) up on stage. Lance’s pet bird “Elvis” is put in a small cage, and then all the children surround it putting their hands over every single part of the cage, hand after hand after hand. No way in and now way out … except to see the astonishment on their faces when “Elvis” vanishes and the cage flattens. “Elvis has left the building.”

Not to be overlooked is the award winning Lance Burton Theatre. This is one of the nicest, most comfortable, well appointed venues in Las Vegas. It has a
mystical, old world feel that sets the mood while maintaining a top user experience. I took the opportunity to move around the theatre during a couple of illusions this time, checking out sight lines and the user experience in both the main theatre and the balcony. There literally isn’t a bad seat in the house (top to bottom) and the careful, plush detail of every area of the venue is a show in and of itself.

His extended finale and now signature trick involves not only making a fully driveable sports car appear on stage, but making it also disappear in a unique way with a “special guest” in the passenger’s seat. This one has to be seen to be believed!

Lance is one of the more popular acts in town, and advance ticket purchase is strongly recommended. This show is fantastic for all ages and a “must do” if you are bringing children to Las Vegas.

• Lance Burton Picture Gallery
• Lance Burton Streaming Video: Dial-Up or Broadband
• Lance Burton Show Tickets
• Lance Burton Performing At: Monte Carlo Resort and Casino

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