Backstage

Most of the people who read my blogs are magicians, but I do have a few friends who read that aren't. With that in mind I thought I'd give the laypeople a backstage view of what it's like to be a magician. First off we deal in illusion and the biggest illusion starts with the job! This is about 90% business and 10% performing. That might be different for performers who work through agencies, but for a person who does most of his own bookings, the majority of my time is spent with marketing, advertising, designing flyers, postcards, posters, answering calls, making calls, selling shows, and about a gazillion other little things.

Ok, before I loose you, let's switch over to the magic part which I'm sure you'll want to know about. The performer arrives before everyone else, and depending upon the size of the show we may have to put up a sound system, possibly lighting, backdrops and the like. Then comes putting the props, tables, illusions and other bits and pieces together. Come showtime we ramp up the personal energy, crank out the show, make people laugh and entertain them and then take the bows. If time permits we can shake some hands after the show and sign autographs. Often though we are time crunched and we've got to pack all that stuff back up in half the time it took us to set it up because we have to be somewhere else or we need to be out of the building by a certain time. Once the vehicle is packed more often than not it's on to the next destination or if you're lucky it's home. The show lasts 30-90 minutes depending upon the size of your show. Add at least an hour to that for a small show for load in and even more for load out.

Of course you might be thinking, 'yeah but you make a lot of money from the show so it's worth it'. Well first, yes it's worth it regardless because you don't usually do this unless you love it. But the price you get paid diminishes once you figure in the marketing that went into that show, the mailings, the office time, the rehearsal time, the prop design and creation or the prop purchases. If you have an assistant or two that figures into the price as well. Suddenly that 'big check' isn't so big. That isn't to say I'm complaining. It's just the reality that any business has to deal with and this is a business just like any other. This business just happens to have a glamorous side, but maybe now you can see that the glamor is tiny compared to the amount of work that goes into the show.

Oh, and the show. Sometimes it takes years before material in the show is really great. There are times when a trick is rehearsed for a very long time before it even gets in front of an audience, so there is already a huge time investment. And if it's an original routine, there may be prototypes and experiments that precede all of that. Show's aren't put together in a day. A lot of blood and sweat go into making a routine into something special. Sometimes sadly the entertainment value that we seek in a trick never quite makes it so it gets dumped. That's a tough thing when you're dealing with a piece you've invested so much into.

A great example for me was the Steel Straight Jacket. Now there is a prop I'd wanted for years. Once I had it, I thought it would be a piece of cake to entertain with. Ummm, hardly. It was a big pain in the you know what. I worked that thing to death trying to figure out the right way to do it. I tried comedy, I tried high drama, I tried talking through it and not talking through it. Eventually I began to stumble upon the right combination, but to be honest, it's still a work in progress.  It plays really really well now especially when I compare it to the early days, but it can always be better. The day I'm satisfied with it is probably the day I'll pull it from the show, lol.

But that's all part of the life of a performer...