Sorry if I post here because maybe is the wrong forum, I want to plan a 40 minutes stage magic show do you have any suggestions about dvd/books to buy?

thank you

p.s. is a stage show with 100 kids/adults watching in a big room (usually no stage or just a short one, I perform on the same sloor of the kids/adults but is not the classic birthday party, something bigger so I need tricks that can be seen from quite far about 10-15m)

I would suggest:
*linking rings
*silk productions/20th century silks/blendo
*Panama Rope Mystery (cut and restored rope and Professor's Nightmare, e.g. "Spaghetti Factory")
*Coloring Book Routine (even though it's been overdone, a good routine can still make it a hit)
*Strat-o-Spheres
* Joanne the Duck (with alphabet cards)

I know some magicians will tell you that some of those routines I listed are too commonplace and done by everybody and his brother at magic shows for kids. But that's why they're called "classics." People have records/CDs at home of singers that they can listen to all day, but when they go to a live concert, they still want to hear "the classics."

And don't worry if you hear "I've seen that one" or "I know how that's done" from a kid in the audience. Some kids will say that even if they haven't seen the trick before. Take out a deck of cards and they'll say: "I have those TV Magic Cards!"

And as you do something like the linking rings, those same kids will say, "My rings don't work like that!"

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

Hi Mago,

I found out the hard way that a stage show is very much different than a small birthday party show in a house. Let me share about a painful experience that I had.

I have been doing birthday party shows for some time in homes and my routines have been quite well-received by both the children and parents alike. At the beginning of this year, I got an invitation to perform a stage show in front of a big audience of more than 100 adults and kids (very mixed audience in terms of race, culture and language. I'm in Malaysia).

I thought that I could use my usual birthday party show with just a few additions- some big props like linking rings, "The Thing" levitation, etc. Imagine my shock when I got literally zero or lukewarm applause right after my opening effect. There were a lot of VIPs (top level managers and CEO from the company) and they had serious, stone-faced expressions.

I battled on with my coloring book routine, sponge balls and a trick called "Rabbit Rampage" with animal pictures on big cards. I was speaking in English but only a handful of them seemed to understand me. Then I tried giving translations of my patter to the other languages but it wasn't working. A group of children came right to the front, crowding around me and pushing my suitcase table that at one point, my props almost fell out on to the ground. I asked them to stand behind a line on the ground and looked to the company staff for some help to control the children but no one did anything. They seemed to think that it was my job to keep the children in check. The more I tried to do that, the more pathetic I looked.

Finally in desperation, I just cut my show short about the half way point, said some thanks, announced the next act (a lion-dance troupe) and quickly left the stage. It was the worst experience of my performing life.

Doing a post-mortem of my show, I think that a non-talking fast-paced manipulation act with lots of visual surprises done to music would have been much better. At least, it would have solved the language problem.

All the best in your stage show.

Thank you for your advices, I am taking note of all, I would like to try also some card minupaltion and the mysery dream, do you know where I can find jeff sheridan card manipulation? I was able only to find on penguin magic but are sold out...

Hi Alextsui, sounds like a rerun of all magicians worst nightmare. My sypathies! My number 1 wish as a magician is to know what I'm getting into.Use your experience to grow into the performer you would like to become. And, although I'm likely to get some argument, there is such a thing as a 'bad' audience. Just be very aware if it happens often.

I would suggest you email Penguin Magic and ask why they list the DVD available separately, but do not have the 3 DVDs available, why can't they sell 3 for the advertised 3 price. Maybe they will do it or tell you when the others are available.

Just be aware, that this will take months to learn, if not a year or so.

@ PLINK~~
You are quite correct~ There is such a thing as a BAD audience.

Yes, you'll get 'arguments' on that point from a few people. (I would be willing to bet that those few people haven't done many shows in the real world!)

There are many factors that can cause such a situation. I have not the time to go into detail, Usually, its not the performers fault.

I've seen top professionals like Jay Marshall struggle (and succeed!) with such a situation. Neil Foster and I discussed this some years ago. We agreed that, no matter how long a performer has been 'around', sooner or later, he will face this kind of audience. Usually, an experienced professional can handle the situation, and survive (!).

In the school assembly field, especially during the Vietnam War era, I faced "a few" bad groups. I survived! There have been a few others, after the Vietnam era. Often, an experienced performer can tell in advance that there will be a problem, and automatically "go into battle mode".

There are many factors that can make an audience 'bad'. Usually, it's something that happened before the show, or it's something over which the performer has no control.

So true, Dick! Some years back I was to be the after-dinner entertainment at the end of a conference. But unbeknownst to me (and the conference organizers) one of the attenders "volunteered" to show slides of his recent deployment in the (first) Iraq war! 75 minutes of audience-killing boredom later there was an exodus from the room like I had never seen before. The approximately nine people who remained to watch my act had had the life sucked right out of them. I went through 40 minutes of material in 15 minutes. TERRIBLE audience, but in this case not their fault.

I do not recommend learning 40 minutes of untested stage material in short order. Even if it is all solid material it may not fit you as a performer, especially if you are not accustomed to larger stage effects. And that's an awful lot of experimentation for a single show. Perhaps try to see if there are effects in your repertoire already that can simply be made to play bigger. With some effects it can be done with only slight modifications. This makes it less of a "leap" for you since you already have an idea of how the effect plays, and you stand a much better chance of success.