Always Evolving

That title refers to my show, or shows. They are always getting tweaked, altered, changed and improved. It seems that the driving force for change is when a performance is good, above average, almost great, or the reverse, when you've had a bad show. I don't ever seem to learn much when a show goes GREAT! But when it's good, or above average or God forbid, bad, then I learn a lot.

I was driving home last night from a series of performances all of which went well. I received some incredible feedback from the shows. One gentleman came up to me at the end of the last show to shake my hand. His grip was firm, and his words were very heartfelt. I chose his grand daughter to help out in the show and it brought so much joy to him and his family that he went out of his way to let me know. It was beyond the regular thank you, but instead he wanted me to know for sure  how important it was to his family.

So while I was driving home, I was reflecting on this and a number of other things that happened. The choice of one volunteer in the show was wrong. It didn't seem to be at the time, but looking back, I made an error. No one would have guessed that. But I realized later if I had picked a certain person, or certain segment of the audience it would have been even stronger.

Also, there was a routine in my show that I've been toying with the script trying to get it worked out right. I feel as if it's close, but not quite there. Imagine my surprise as I'm driving home and I stumble upon the perfect delivery of the material. I had just done 5 performances and suddenly NOW I've got the perfect patter. Better late than never. The good thing is I have two shows tomorrow and I'll be able to use the newer version.

This is the way it goes. Very rarely is a routine a hit right out of the gate. There are so many elements that go into making a strong magic routine. This is why magicians get so angry when 'secrets' are revealed. The secret is only one element of a magic routine. There is the script, the blocking and movement, the audience interaction, the comedy if it calls for that, and many other things that go into the routine but when some idiot reveals a secret it often kills all the work that went into creating an entertaining routine.

For entertainers, what we do can always be improved, it can always be made better. The smart performer is always evolving.

UPDATE: The revised patter that I mentioned above was fantastic. I used it twice today and it played incredibly well!