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Mumblemore Inner circle 1429 Posts 
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Anybody else feeling that every pre-tweener (6-9 year-old) is into this Disney musical? I'm trying to incorporate some of this into my act, but haven't yet succeeded. Anyone wanna share a trick they've themed or musical number they've incorporated? I wonder if it's worth working on, or if "chasing" trends (at least any with less staying power than Harry Potter) is a good idea. What do you think?
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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts
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Dotted lines amigo. You can insert topics but to try to base a show on it will keep you from having a real solid show and you'll be forever changing. So you have your regular show, which is a solid line, and at places a dotted line, meaning themes or topics, loop through it.
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AshleyW Regular user 174 Posts
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Good topic.
I think it's Cheese Central, everytime I see a magi try to include anything pop culture into his show that has nothing to do with magic. Your show should be more than a series of disjointed moments, it should have a flow and a theme that coincides with magic itself. They can see HSM crap everywhere, why should it be force fed by us too? Just because it's popular? Will associating with it make you popular? But it's not just HSM, it's Harry Potter who is very special to the kids, are you really going to compare to that kid who flies around on a stick and battles evil? It's also American flags, it's Pirates of the Caribbean, these are larger than life icons that outweigh even the best kid's performer, and really have no business in a show that should be made by us and for the most part be about us. If we appear to be cheap replicas of something bigger & better, than that is what they will remember. But if they see something original, something they can't get anywhere else, then you have something special! |
kimmo Inner circle Sheffield 1193 Posts
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I'm totally with Ashley on this one. That was a GREAT post. I run away from the popular trends rather than chase after them. These things get old very fast as well, leaving you without an act.
It can make you look very unoriginal too. Here in the U.K., a comedian called Peter Kaye popularised Tony Christie's old song 'Is this the way to Amarillo?' by releasing it as a charity record. It became a huge hit and kids went nuts for it. Of course, it found it's way into the act of virtually every children's entertainer over here. I took my kids to a show in Skegness and every single performer closed with this song - to the point where the crowd was groaning every time they heard the intro. I do poke fun at these popular trends from time to time during my act, but that's a different thing altogether.
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Mumblemore Inner circle 1429 Posts
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Ashley makes a great point and very well written. I do however think that we can go for larger "types" (i.e. the wizard character with an emphasis on medieval and rennaissance "fare" or the magician with the rabbit you try to pull out during the course of your show. Those are "our" stereotypes or "Cheese Central" and if we can riff or add to or improvise on them (with our own mark) then I think we're contributing to the genre. But I think you may be right (and Santa with his "solid line" and kimmo's "running from trends")that following them too closely is a mistake. I think I'll go for references to classics (Cinderella's slipper is a great prop to appear and references to Peter Pan or Humpty Dumpty are timeless), but I'll try not to let popular culture lead me on a choke chain. The next question however, becomes how to differentiate between classics (Three Little Bears, Tortoise and Hare) and "today's passing trend." I think tapping into classics is good as it provides you with a common reference point with the kids; but trying to be trendy may be doomed to failure (not to mention wasted time and $$).
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DanielSteep Inner circle 1409 Posts
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NOT just pre-tweeners. atleast not around here. almost every girl age 6-16 are into it around here. kinda discusts me.
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Mumblemore Inner circle 1429 Posts
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I mean, it could be worse. My 4-year-old and 8-year-old daughters could be listening to rap ditties about drive-bys or porn movie theme songs. It's catchy music, but vapid and bland. If only they'd listened to me and become violin virtuosos when they were two . . .
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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts
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Dang...I was wrong again....Either that or people didn't comprehend it. Let me try in plan English...
If'n you try to alter your show to suit every trend or theme you'll have a crappy show. You can toss in a comment or two where it doesn't ruin the main show but the be it homey. I'm also against magicians having Potter style names. I hope that is understood, the solid and dotted line was just to durn confusing. |
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NJJ Inner circle 6437 Posts
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I agree with Magic Santa, you can certainly mention things which are popular in passing but to base routines and acts to look like cheap knock offs of Harry Potter and High School Musical makes you look cheap.
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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts
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Uh....I did a search on high school musical and found a photo of a young lady and, well, maybe that isn't the route you wanna take for kids shows....
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Wanlu Inner circle Manila, Philippines 3058 Posts
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This is not Magic but my vent figure Nicolo ends with a High School Musical song number and so far...its working wonders for me
"The Old Path"
www.angdatingdaan.org Wanlu's Affordable Puppets http://wanlu.net/ventpuppets.html Wanlu and his Puppets http://wanlu.net |
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wdwfan71 New user 100 Posts
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Quote:
On 2008-01-14 21:25, AshleyW wrote: Ditto with Ashley on this one. Well said Ashley! |
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wdwfan71 New user 100 Posts
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Quote:
On 2008-01-14 22:25, MagicalOdyssey wrote: Daniel... stay in school. Discusts... Disgusts |
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phill Veteran user Connecticut 365 Posts
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Quote:
MagicSanta wrote: MS - It made perfect sense to me......Thank you for sharing your insight. peace, phill
Scripture, Sculptures & Surprises!
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Mumblemore Inner circle 1429 Posts
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As the user of a knock-off Harry Potter name, I would defend it as a "gendre" name rather than just from a specific story (think also Lord of the Rings). This fits me as a stage persona as my favorite literary work of all time; I have lots of enthusiasm about this, and it spills over. There are other transcendent names from literature/culture (like "Magic Santa") but they are also above the pop culture fray, as they are not constantly changing. We've settled on them as enduring myths/stories/lore. I am saying, tap into those veins of material and add to them/alter them. But the posters are right, I think, that chasing every contemporary trend is a bad idea in general (although a closing song in Wanlu's vent show from High School Musical sounds like a great idea, and probably doesn't affect what Santa calls "the main show." These are good comments; people have clearly thought a lot about this.
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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts
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I would never perform using the name magic santa, I mearly did a typo when enterting satan. What is your favorite literary work of all time? You mention two books. I shall now be known as....Professor Chubbycheeks
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| The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » The little darlings » » "High School Musical"craze (0 Likes) | |
Posted: Jan 15, 2008 01:40 am 
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