I've been speaking with a few people. I'm considering putting coin two on stage. Nothing big, maybe 150 seats. I believe that if you carefully choreograph the vanishes and appearances, drawing attention to the right points you can pull this off. I'm planning on using my silver peace dollars and making it a point to reflect the light off the coins when a produce them. It would be a silent routine to a spot of jazz.

Any thoughts on this endeavor?

Well won't coins be too small to everyone to see whats going on? even silver dollars

As a routine I think it would fit exept the JW grip, it might be too angly for 150 people

Agreed, however, on Gary Norsigian's DVD, I felt that he made an excellent point. If you have a routine that is so perfectly choreographed and tweaked just right, you can take a routine (such as CoinTwo) and even if the people in the far back can't see what is going on exactly, you can still make it play to them off of the reactions in the audience and they will somehow believe what they are "seeing". I'm not sure if this actualy works as I have not yet tried it, but I'm sure somebody will eventualy get it. This routine, however, might be better with patter because coins don't have much of a place on stage too often and making coins vanish might not make sense to some people. BUT, if you present the routine as something that is getting you mad that the coins are vanishing, you might be able to play off of what Gary said. Just my 2 cents

I saw a manipulation act using DVD/CD's. I only know that because I asked, I couldn't tell what he was holding. I really don't know how tis would go over on stage. I wouldn't do it.

It could work if you had a projector or something to put on a big screen so it would be easier for the people in the back to see.

I think that dinger136 is right.

Why waste the time and possible poor reaction for doing the routine and a number of people not seeing it. All they would see is the Physical motions of a coin flurry and not know what you were doing!

I think Copperfield (and all the magic conventions) proved that you can't do close up magic without making sure that everyone can see it (video projections, etc.)

Think about it - what would you think if you were in the audience?

PS
Bravo - if you can do CoinTwo !!!!!

Why not see if you can adapt parts of it with jumbo coins?

At the very least your dollar coins (I assume that's what you're using) should be shiny so they will reflect off the stage lights.
If T Nelson Downs could do it why can't you?

In Curtis Kam's book, Earning Interest, he gives you some hardcore tips on using jumbo coins in front of real audiences. He does a few vanishes, appearances, puts, steals etc. Some great ideas there.

Gary Kurtz

has a jumbo coin routine in his book!

Miser's Dream is a coin routine that plays on stage. 150 people is a lot but it's not area size, I don't think a projector is necessary. I am not too familiar with coin two, but if you can incorporate sound into the routine so that the crowd can hear the coins that might make it play larger. I think if you are using vanishes that happen in one place where the audience is looking somewhere else, those might not play as well because not everyone will be able to see that there is only one coin in your hand, when just a moment ago there was two. With that said I haven't performed magic for 150 people, total, so what do I know.

Miser's Dream works on stage, because of the noise and the fact that you stop and show the coins picked from air letting them flow through your hands back in the "bucket.
In Coin Two you can't add noise, to make it more "visual". It's more an essai of a street or stand up routine.
Agent 61 gave a nice idea, why not use parts of the routine with jumbo coins if possible...

Oliver.

How are you planning on making Coin 2 entertaining enough to do on stage?
What about it seems entertaining to an audience?

What tricks did you toss out in favor of this one and why?

I don't understand this topic.
Coin 2 is a close-up/parlour routine and not at all stage routine ( for obviously reasons)
My thought
Try it by yourselves and ask for feedback after the show.
I think nobody will remember this routine...
As say Frank the problem here is "entertainement".
Coin2 it's enough entertaining for stage show ?
If for you the answer is yes, so do it.

It depends on the audience.

150 people is pushing it, but you'd be surprised at how much you can see from the back row of a 100 seat theater.

If the seats just go straight back, (standard proscenium) you'll probably have a pretty hard time with this one,
If the house is pretty shallow, and extends around the stage somewhat (a thrust stage), it'll work much better

Jamy Ian Swiss regularly performs his threefly at Monday Night Magic. IT used to be a 150 seat theater, now its at a new venue that holds a few more.

With Silver Dollars and good blocking, it still plays to the back of the house. You may have to make some alterations to CoinTwo to make it work for what you need (there are a few vanishes that are probably a bit too cozy to work in that size venue), but you can make it work if you feel strongly about it.

Just go slowly, emphasize the coins, use dollars, hold them at the very tips of your fingers and run it once for a friend while you are on a stage and he is about as far back as the last row of the theater you'll be working in.

Thanks guys.

I'm not dropping anything else for it. It's an idea I had. I did it in a sixty seat cabaret theater and it worked well. A friend of mine had booked me for the show and wanted a manipulation act. I'm known for alternative comedy magic, and I like the challenge. The routine was an emotional ride (for those of you who are familiar with the anime Cowboy Bebop, I used the jazz piece Goodnight Julia by The Seatlbelts.) The character is doing his dead wife's favorite effect for her over her dead body in the street (This is the subtext in my head.) Very different than what I usually do. Huge applause in the cabaret.

This experience got me thinking, how big a theater could I put it in without using a projection screen. 150, 300, bigger? What can we do with small stuff in a big place? How can we break molds, and use theater to make something small play huge.

Interesting responses though. Thanks for the feedback.

Mickey Silver did a great routine at international magic convention here in London a few years back, it was in a large auditorium and he used silver dollars. He was droping them to the ground with a massive clang as he did his human slot machine routine....Fantastic! It can be done, of course it helps if you have the talent/ showmanship of young mr silver