How long should it be and possibly how many tricks should be in a show ?

I do a 45 minute 12 trick show, except when they really laugh at my jokes then I do 10 tricks in 45 minutes. If they are 4 years old I do 15 tricks in 35 minutes because little kids never laugh, they want more tricks, and faster.

Length of show depends upon a number of different factors. What is the venue, and who is the audience?

I think the answer is also influenced by your routining, and also your performance experience. When I was younger, I did more routines (tricks) in a show. Now, I have a lot more bits of business, etc, so I do less routines (tricks) overall. That is not to say the show is less entertaining, or less magical.

Mainly, I offer a couple of different length family / kids shows: 30 minutes and 45 minutes.

In my 30 minute show, I do about 5-6 routines, and in my 45 minute show, about 8-9 routines.

- Donald

I think Al and Donald are both right. There is no set show length. It all depends on what is called for.

You can package a show for certain venues. For example a birthday party you could do anything from 30 minutes to 2 hours.

The longer show seems to be favoured with the British as they often put together a program of a show, balloons, games and more to fill the entertainment requirements of the party.

The North American model is more geared to just delivering the show and perhaps adding some balloon animals.

Of course, neither model is set in stone and there are performers on both sides of the pond doing either.

For Pat and I, we try to get a feel for what the client is looking for and then make suggestions. Once we determine this and what the venue is, we make suggestions for show lengths. Typically we offer anything from a 30 minute to a 90 minute show. The longer show typically is offered for a theatre venue. We then coordinate a show with the various routines we have.

So, I guess it depends on a combination of a) what the client expects and or needs, b) the venue it is to be performed in and c) what you are capable or comfortable doing.

All the best,

Rob

Sometimes I am hired to perform one major illusions that would only last 2- 3 minutes or sometimes they want an hour and half show....
It all depends on what is desired for the event, but usually in the birthday- library market 30 to 45 minutes...
Corporate functions 15 to 45 minutes.

As Rob, Donald, and Curtis pointed out length of time is very dependent on venue. I did an IBM fund raiser two weeks ago where I did 10 minutes, and they told me I went over the 8 minute time limit.

Al,

Two minutes over! Bad magician! Bad, bad, bad!

hehehehe

HMM,,, I performed for a club event a few weeks back and the hired me for a 40 minute show and I went 75 minutes.... they just kept wanting more and we were not on a time schedule.

How long should a show be????

Reminds me of when someone asked Abe Lincoln "How long should a man's legs be?"
He replied, "All the way to the ground."

So, Abe would have most likely responded to your question with something like, "All the way to the end. AND NO LONGER!"

Too bad John Wilkes Booth didn't ask him, "How long should the show be?"

Don't go longer than how long you can hold their attention.

There's a reason a class in school is no longer than 40 minutes even if you love it. The same goes for a magic show.

Ten minutes shorter than what you think...
Always leave them wanting more.
Gwyd

I second what Gwyd says! I have learned it the hard way.

I think that for kids show magicians the length of show depends entirely on the age of the audience. For three-year-olds you really can't do more than about 35-40 min, even with some kind of stretching game in the middle. For 4-6 it's about 45 min max, and for older I go 50 min or so. With the little ones, you can almost watch them wilt and know when your last trick is upon you. I think it's important to be attentive and "wrap it up" on a high, so that everyone goes away with the best impression, rather than dragging on a trick or two beyond the climax.

You must consider your repertoire, your venue, your audience.

Never contract for an absolutely set number of minutes,
it could be far too much or too little,
gauge your response instead.

Sometimes they get all they need in fifteen-minutes,
if they do, then stop.

Sometimes a full-out show with illusions (and intermission)
can run seventy-five minutes (but leave them wanting more).

Twenty to thirty minutes is a nice sound number.

Between five and a dozen pieces are enough,
if they’re the right pieces, and in the right order.

If you have enough dancing boys and girls in sequins,
then maybe two pieces of magic is more than enough
(OK that was a joke).

You need an “opener” that works for you and your style,
you need a “closer” that makes them happy they came,
you need middle pieces which are varied and different.

Then you need to leave out half of what you originally thought.
At least that has always worked in my experience.

Magically,
Walt

Walt suggested to never contract for a set amount of time... ok I guess if you can get away with it. but be prepared to contract for a set time because most venues and events are going to want your services based on time. Corporate events, night clubs, even the Castle hire you for an amount of time to fill slots in a show or event. as far as how many bits in a set amount of time, that will depend on performance style and ability to entertain. I have seen some magicians with the ability to make 20th century silks a 12 minute routine with tons of business and fun for all. I have seen other magicians bore audiences to death dragging stuff out needlessly. some magicians are rapid fire trick after trick and make it work, others not so much...

for a childrens show my 30 min program has 14 effects woven into 7 segments 4 of which are audience participation, why? because children have shorter attention spans and love variety.(I also offer 45 min programs for kids adding 3 effects 2 of them audience participation.)
for an adult program (30 min) my show has 8 effects 3 audience participation, I am also able to break this show into 10 and 20 min segments and add to 45 and 60 min. when needed.

I agree always leave them wanting more, but hopefully they will want more no matter how long you perform... yes?

I believe part of the sales and booking process is to educate the client.
Therefore I point out what diminishing-returns are,
and that they may actually get more for their money
with a half-hour show than a forty-five minute show,
depending upon their venue and audience.

I let them know we can aim for X number of minutes,
however depending upon the circumstances of the day,
we may choose to perform five of so minutes under
or over that amount of time, in order to provide their
particular audience with exactly the right amount of entertainment.

To often I’ve seen audiences ready to poke their eyes out as some performer is determined to perform the entire hour he contracted for.
I’ve also seen the opposite, where the audience was so ‘wowed’
they needed a few more minutes to feel satisfied.

Entertainment is not an exact art,
so I feel contracts cannot be exactly adhered to either.
I’ve booked many shows on this theory alone.

Now, this is not going to work for a medium like television
or other situations where schedules are strictly timed,
but I find clients appreciate that I’m going to provide
full-value rather than exact-time.

Magically,
Walt

I couldn't agree more with Walt, he is absolutely correct. However, the client does request a certain amount of time - and you have to do your best to fulfill....

one thing I do, more specifically for biggers shows (not birthdays but corporate or fairs etc etc) is have a term in my contract that allows the performance to either be shortened or longer at the performers discretion by no more than 10 minutes, due to technical conditions or *audience interaction - which could mean that you don't want to drag the performance on OR you simply cannot go any further with this crowd as you believe it will start to have that 'diminishing effect' with the audience....

Anytime they ask WHY I have this, I simply tell them that through experience sometimes less CAN BE MORE or the mere fact the certain effects will not be able to be performed due to technical conditions (room layout, sight lines etc etc), like Walt says.

In the birthday party market, I find that the clients absolutely want to know how long the show is going to be. And remember--you are the expert here, so you can offer advice to the parents about which show works for which age group and why. I offer 3 different length shows: 30 minute show, 40 minute show and a 50 minute show that also includes 10 minutes of magic instruction for a total of 60 minutes. I also have a 60 minute magic workshop that I offer and recommend for older kids (10-12 years old).

Having the different length shows gives you an upsell possibility, depending on how you package it--the short one is my "Basic" birthday party magic show, 40 minutes is "Classic" and the 50+10 is my "Deluxe" show. Some parents only want the best (i.e., longest) and only the Deluxe will do. Parents with a constrained budget can opt for the Basic show. I also offer extra enticements with the longer shows: Classic gets a free goodie bag and magic book for the birthday child, Deluxe gets that plus an additional magic trick assortment (as well as the instruction).

For 3-6 year olds, my shows are pretty evenly split between the 30 and 40 minute show. I do not recommend the longest show for this age group, and even tell parents this. I believe they appreciate my honesty when I tell them that while I would love to book the higher priced show, it really isn't meant for that age. For the 7-9 year olds, it's a split between the 40 and 60 minute show. For 10-12 year olds, it's mostly the 60 minute show (the 10 minuts of instruction is very popular) or workshop.

For company family parties, I find that the clients usually want roughly about 30 minutes of entertainment. I've been able to upsell here, too, offering 30 minutes of magic instruction for the kids while the adults are eating, followed by a 30 minute show.