|
|
Go to page [Previous] 1~2~3~4~5~6~7 [Next] | ||||||||||
bishthemagish Inner circle 6013 Posts |
Magicalaurie - So what. Few in show business do. Most magicians in history start broke and die broke.
Now I have no idea of your own personal experience in magic as to you doing a magic show. But magic is a business and part of the business is making a show meet the demands of the business. From your past posting I have no idea if you have ever done a magic show. Or ever structured a magic act or performed a public show in a night club or a bar. Or any other public venue. Do you have any useful information on how to structure an act or a show from your own personal experience?
Glenn Bishop Cardician
Producer of the DVD Punch Deal Pro Publisher of Glenn Bishop's Ace Cutting And Block Transfer Triumphs |
|||||||||
magicalaurie Inner circle Ontario, Canada 2962 Posts |
Yes, I was editing my post when you replied and so was unable to squeak in with the fact that I have performed professionally for the public. I do not, however, claim to be a MASTER of show structure. I do my best to see that my show flows in an entertaining fashion. I have had favorable audience responses so far, which indicate that perhaps I may be on the right track. I'm completing a college theatre-arts program right now which has been a wonderful resource in my development as a magician.
I've taken a lesson from Siegfried and Roy, for sure. Passion. There's no "so what?" about those guys. And they won't die broke. But it's not about the money. It's about HEART. Dedication, determination, integrity- continually raising the bar and improving your performance. And giving the audience your BEST. Do that- they'll come back. |
|||||||||
bishthemagish Inner circle 6013 Posts |
That is great. My older sister paid for her college education doing birthday parties, close up in restaurants, and other shows.
I wish I had a theater arts background because I am very out of date. Perhaps if you could explain more on how theater has helped your act or show or perhaps take one magic effect and write how theater improves the presentation. I have often thought that the structure of an act is just like structuring a magic routine. Beginning - middle and end. Beginning (Get attention) Middle (entertain them) End the Climax. I am not against you I am for You and others here in the café and it would be great if we all have the success that we all would like. Part of this is to share and we all grow.
Glenn Bishop Cardician
Producer of the DVD Punch Deal Pro Publisher of Glenn Bishop's Ace Cutting And Block Transfer Triumphs |
|||||||||
magicalaurie Inner circle Ontario, Canada 2962 Posts |
I'm an actor playing the part of a magician, I'm afraid, Glenn. That's a fundamental part of it. It applies to EVERY aspect of the show. In terms of structure, I'll go along with the very basic beginning, middle, end. Absolutely true. Have a through line. Keep it simple and clean and CLEAR. I'm no expert.
|
|||||||||
Review King Eternal Order 14446 Posts |
[quote]On 2006-04-09 10:12, bishthemagish wrote:
Quote:
went to see Star Wars 47 times (first run in the 70's). Glenn, were you in the cantina scene?
"Of all words of tongue and pen,
the saddest are, "It might have been" ..........John Greenleaf Whittier |
|||||||||
bishthemagish Inner circle 6013 Posts |
Quote:
On 2006-04-09 21:14, MagicChris wrote: I have no idea. As a group from my Dads old magic shop we used to close up the shop on a Friday around midnight and there was a late night showing at the Orland Park Theater. We would drive from Bowlingbrook IL to Orland park and just make it. We used to sit in the back and say the lines as the actors did while the movie was on. I think Lucisfilms made there first grand off us. Those were fun days.
Glenn Bishop Cardician
Producer of the DVD Punch Deal Pro Publisher of Glenn Bishop's Ace Cutting And Block Transfer Triumphs |
|||||||||
bishthemagish Inner circle 6013 Posts |
Quote:
On 2006-04-09 20:51, magicalaurie wrote: If you ARE an actor playing the part of a magician that is fine. But I have found that the magic show in structure is very different from the stage play. Jack Gwynne said that a magician entertains by doing just two things vanish and appear - that is what a magician does. Gwynne was himself on the stage but had a lot of oriental costumes in his act. In fact his act was billed as Oriental Occidental Oddities. There have been performers that take on another name like a stage name and become someone else. Fu Manchu was David Bamberg. As Okito was Theo Bamberg (David’s Dad). But the show structure in a magic show is most often different than a stage play. I saw a DVD of Doug Henning do "The Magic Show". I did not consider his ACTING very good but I enjoyed watching Doug do many of the illusions that made Doug Henning famous. The Magic show WAS a Play about a magician and that made it different than the full evening magic show as we know it. Doug Henning was best at doing flash illusions and then doing something in one. I would say as an actor Doug Henning was best at being Doug Henning. Just as Bogart was best at being Bogart. When I perform I am Glenn Bishop just as my Dad was Billy Bishop but our personalities expand into a stage version of ourselves. I do not consider that expansion in our personalities acting. Because we are and a lot of entertainers are like this. We are what we are. Like Popeye “I am what I am”. It is my experience that an audience does not like a phony and what they see is genuine as far as the person performing is concerned. That is why I say I am a magician, and the magic I do is real. It is not storybook magic but magicians magic. Just a few thoughts on the stage full evening magic show and the stage play. Few stage plays use audience participation. The only stage play that does is the popular murder mystery where the audience decides the outcome. Or there was one in Chicago called "Shear Madness" that also had the audience be part of it. But few plays have the audience be part of the show other than filling up seats in the audience. This audience being part of the show makes the magic show different. There are comedy groups that have taken this idea but I think it started in the magic shows. Being different every show and being or at least appearing to look impromptu and a "Happening" is very powerful entertainment. Most stage plays are what is called "fish bowl entertainment" - like a movie the audience will sit there and watch the fish and they are not really a part of the world that they are watching. That is why I think that there will always be magic shows when it happens LIVE and it is a HAPPENING and the audience is PART OF IT!
Glenn Bishop Cardician
Producer of the DVD Punch Deal Pro Publisher of Glenn Bishop's Ace Cutting And Block Transfer Triumphs |
|||||||||
magicalaurie Inner circle Ontario, Canada 2962 Posts |
I think you misunderstand the true nature of acting, Glenn, with all due respect. It is very much about being real, and true. Be the magician. My show is a standard- style magic show, not a "stage play" as per the examples cited above.
|
|||||||||
bishthemagish Inner circle 6013 Posts |
A young actor asked Spenser Tracy "Mr. Tracy, what do you look for in a script". He said "Days Off".
Another asked, what was a good actor? "He said show up on time, Know your lines, And don't bump into the furniture". I think that acting or actor in magic is over-rated at times. Because the audience wants to see magic. It doesn't matter if it is a person doing magic, a magician doing magic or an actor pretending to be a magician. If the show is good they will like it. I often think was Doug Henning who talked of theater a great actor. Was he an actor playing the part of a magician? A magician playing the part of an actor? It doesn't matter the audience liked him and the way he did magic. I like what Mr. Electric said on his video tape. He said that young people tell him about the acting classes they take, dance mime etc. I think the same way he does. People are there for the magic. Sure you have to know how to take a bow, be onstage, use eye contact, how to talk to a crowd. But people are there to see magic from a MAGICIAN. Do they SEE a Magician on the stage when you perform? They look at me when I walk out. OK you call yourself a magician - PROVE IT! Then I do by doing my show. But - if the magic is bad and they do not believe in me and my claim as being a magician - then I would LOSE THEM. Unless being bad is the comedy part of the act like Frank Van Hoven. I think that "Be The Magician" is the best thing that you said so far. I think the difference is that the actor goes home a person and leaves the part that they play at the theater. And IF the part they play was a magician they would leave it at the theater. But when I go home after the show I AM SITLL A MAGICIAN. It is not a part I play it is my profession and who I am. It is just as much as a choice that makes money as it is a LIFESTYLE! Being a magician is no ACT! It is not a part I play for theater reason's.
Glenn Bishop Cardician
Producer of the DVD Punch Deal Pro Publisher of Glenn Bishop's Ace Cutting And Block Transfer Triumphs |
|||||||||
Review King Eternal Order 14446 Posts |
Quote:
On 2006-04-10 11:11, magicalaurie wrote: I'm with laurie on this one!!!
"Of all words of tongue and pen,
the saddest are, "It might have been" ..........John Greenleaf Whittier |
|||||||||
The One Veteran user 325 Posts |
In my opinion, You don't have to be an actor to call yourself a magician.
But to be a good, or great magician you need to have acting skills. Just check out Derren Brown's Roussian Roulette. No non-actor could pull that off.
I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end...
I came here... To tell you how this is going to begin. |
|||||||||
magicfish Inner circle 7004 Posts |
One of my favourite magician's of all time is Buddy Farnan. Now this guy was an expert! and although he didn't seem like he was acting... he was. This guy exuded magic when I saw him perform... He played the perfect role; in fact he did it so well that he wasn't even doing it anymore... he just became it.
|
|||||||||
bishthemagish Inner circle 6013 Posts |
Quote:
On 2006-04-10 11:11, magicalaurie wrote: I understand acting fine. In fact I have taught acting and drama and theater as part of a continuing education program along with magic theater in a college in river grove IL. I also understand the business of acting theater and magic. I also have practical experience in theater as well as magic. But what I do not understand is why magicians or actor magicians cling to the misquote of Robert-Houdin's about a magician is an actor playing the part of a magician. To me the statement is very silly. Because as I have learned it was not the way that Robert - Houdin said it and what he was trying to talk about. Robert-Houdin. Who said: "A conjuror is not a juggler; he is an actor playing the part of a magician; an artist whose fingers have more need to move with deftness than with speed." Dai Vernon said, "Be Natural". Part of being natural is being who YOU ARE! And moving the way that YOU MOVE! That being said the magic IS IN THE MAGICIAN. By the way Buddy Farnan is one of my mentors and he took theater in college and was in the same theater class as Blackstone Jr. Who said "Either you are a magician or your not."
Glenn Bishop Cardician
Producer of the DVD Punch Deal Pro Publisher of Glenn Bishop's Ace Cutting And Block Transfer Triumphs |
|||||||||
magicfish Inner circle 7004 Posts |
Precisely
|
|||||||||
magicalaurie Inner circle Ontario, Canada 2962 Posts |
Quote:
On 2006-04-10 13:03, bishthemagish wrote: That was an actor talking. |
|||||||||
vinsmagic Eternal Order sleeping with the fishes... 10957 Posts |
This thread is going noplace,, actors want to be singers, singers want to be actors ,magicians want to be what ever.......
women want to be men and visa versa...... back to the topic Glen gave us some very good points about his act take it or leave it....... vinny |
|||||||||
tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
That’s an offer we can't refuse!
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
|||||||||
magicalaurie Inner circle Ontario, Canada 2962 Posts |
I don't wanna be a man.
|
|||||||||
tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
Don't worry you can get a sex change.
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
|||||||||
magicalaurie Inner circle Ontario, Canada 2962 Posts |
I said I don't wanna be a man.
|
|||||||||
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » Food for thought » » Glenn Bishop's 11 min. Close Up Act » » TOPIC IS LOCKED (0 Likes) | ||||||||||
Go to page [Previous] 1~2~3~4~5~6~7 [Next] |
[ Top of Page ] |
All content & postings Copyright © 2001-2024 Steve Brooks. All Rights Reserved. This page was created in 0.05 seconds requiring 5 database queries. |
The views and comments expressed on The Magic Café are not necessarily those of The Magic Café, Steve Brooks, or Steve Brooks Magic. > Privacy Statement < |