Lance is worth the time and cost. He still loves what he does, he still connects with the audience, he is in his magic shop adjacent to the theater after the show....he's still a great performer. Worthwhile show for sure!

There's another "Big Box" production show each evening; Steve Wyrick. Steve does good illusions, but (even more so than Copperfield) is just going through the motions. He really doesn't connect with the audience and leaves a lot to be desired. Not worth the investment in time or money.

Dirk Arthur does an afternoon show at the Tropicana which is reasonably priced and a reasonably good show.

World's Greatest Magic Show is a nice assortment of pros....you can get reasonably priced tickets at the Tix-4-Tonight ticket booth....don't pay the $70 full price for that show. EmCee Jeff Hobson is a hoot!

The Mac King afternoon show is a must see while you're in town.

Penn and Teller.....not bad, but not my personal favorite.

Dixie Dooley is at a small resort on the south Strip. If you want to see someone get huge play from small props, see Dixie. Small time show, big time fun!

Plenty to choose from.....e-mail me through one of the club websites, or PM me here before you come to town. Look forward to meeting you!

That's very usefull I will take your advice.
Will send you a PM in due course nearer the time I'm coming.

[quote]On 2008-01-17 17:46, KARCH wrote:
Lance Burton's show at the Monte Carlo is really good (and probably the best big show left now that Siegfied and Roy are gone). He still comes out after every show to sign autographs and take pictures. Class act.


KARCH

I have seen Lance twice in the last twelve months at the Monte Carlo and on neither ocassion did he come out afer the show to sign autographs or take pictures. The show is awesome though, this is the must see in Vegas in my opinion and I have seen all of the shows mentioned in this thread.

Rich

When I saw Lance about a year ago he wasn't signing then either...HOWEVER, I was told that if you give a decent tip to one of the ushers they would bring it backstage and have him sign it for you...of course, there's no guarantee that the usher isn't signing it themselves....

--Jon

Skip Dirk Arthur. You want to talk about disconnected from the audience...

World's Greatest Magic Show is one of the best. Of course Lance Burton too.

--Jack

For what it's worth, I saw the Lance Burton show a few months back.
I wasn't overwhelmed with it, but it was good.
If you want to read my review of it, go to this forum
http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......rum=75&7

Thanks guys keep them coming.

Thefliss:

I completely agree. Lance was good...it was an okay show...but there are other shows I'd see before him. Mac King certainly gives you more bang for your buck...

--Jon

These guys have named it all. If you are coming for the convention, I believe Lance gives discounts. There is usually a large group that goes from the convention Wednesday night. I'm traveling with a buddy who hasn't seen the show, so there's a good chance we'll go Wednesday night.

My magician buddy, Mike, and I have caught a few shows this week. Yesterday we saw Mac King (our 2nd time - always a fantastic show; funny/good magic) and Steve Wyrick (took a while to get used to his personality and borrowed lots from Copperfield specials, but still a good/very professional production). After the show, hit Boomers (a dive bar in Vegas) and hung out with a lot of local magii including Gary Darwin, Bob Kohler, and many others - very friendly crowd to us out-of-towners.

Tonight, we attended The World's Greatest Magic Show at the Greek Isles and it was a great revue. Jeff Hobson kept things moving and saw some incredible/fun illusion and manipulation work by 6 magicians (I can't recall correctly all of their names aside from Losander) including my first Goth dove act!

Tomorrow, hope to hit Nathan Burton in afternoon and Penn/Teller at night. We'd both caught Lance in the past - good magic, but nothing to blow anyone away. He tried to reproduce the old style magic shows and was successful in that regard. Also, skip the Dirk Arthur show - we caught that two years ago: poorly made props/dirty mirrors, etc..

Thanks jocdoc very usefull

Further update:

Nathan Burton was enjoyable. You may remember him from America's Got Talent. Flew through some great illusions like a kid in a toy store (in a good way - had lots of fun and it showed. Great supporting show girls, too). Everyone had fun. He'll be moving to the Flamingo next month. A nice touch: Nathan even plugged Mac King's show at the end. Very classy guy.

Also caught Penn & Teller tonight. They were absolutely awesome. I had seen them before some years back. Watching them perform some of their effects was pure poetry - in particular, Teller came up with an incredible version of the Miser's Dream using a fishbowl and an aquarium. Absolutely beautiful! A very funny show. The nice thing about this show, too, is that even magicians would enjoy it b/c they do what they do so well placing new twists on some old effects. You expect one thing and are delightfully surprised by their endings. Well worth the money spent.

Well, that's the end of our magical adventures in Vegas for now. Back to San Diego tomorrow.

Thanks jocdoc have a safe trip home

Went to see Dirk Arthur today.... What a surprise, haven't thought a magic show on the strip could be that bad... They sell tickets now 2 for 1, that sort of said it all, however I really felt bad. For the magic art itself. Lot's of issues, starting with appearance, illusions in a smoke cloud so big, that it was hard to tell at times what was going on, completely meaningless dance acts, and bodyparts looking so fake that the figures at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum seems alive in comparison. I wondered why they didn't keep Rick Thomas. He was after all better. Anyone has some insight??

Just FYI....

Tickets to Brett Daniels show at the Sahara are now on sale...it looks quite intriguing...

--Jon

Went to see World's Greatest Magic this past Tuesday night. Right now prices have been cut back from $55.95 to $19.95 (and you can get them for less at Tix 4-Tonight on the street).

Max Clever MC'd. Dan Sperry opened followed by Losander, Jason Baney, and Roy Shank. It ran about 80 minutes.

The title of the show is a tough one to live up to.

Terry

I just returned for a trip to Vegas this morning. As I was trying to make the trip as economical as possible, I couldn't drop too much on multiple shows. I did spend the green to see Penn & Teller, since I've been idolizing them for nearly 20 years. Amazing show, even if I had seen most of the routines before. Jocdoc, you're absolutely correct about the aquarium miser's dream....achingly beautiful.

A friend of mine at the Tropicana gave me several comps to use (dinner, Cirque's KA, etc), including...wait for it...Dirk Arthur. She handed me the comps with the qualifier "He's gotten better," and pointed out that the Beckham's had been there recently. I can't begin to imagine what he must have been like before his "improvement." Still, I think this type of occasionally cringe-inducing, lower-tier show encapsulates the cheesy Vegas magic show archetype, so I was happy to have gone (without having to pay, mind you. I might feel different if I had handed over actual cash). Star-Magic, did it seem like most of the time the dancers were just doing their own individual improv during each number? Still, being that close to big cats is always kinda fun. Although, when one of the younger cubs made a pretty serious lunge for Dirk's face while I was there, I wondered if he was about to take his S&R impression just a little too far.

As far as magic shops, I didn't find anything that wasn't your usual tourist town sponge ball trap. Nice guys working the display counter, and decent performers, but their wares were the usual overpriced fare. I didn't know about the one down on Dean Martin...maybe next time.

Meager funds kept me from Burton, although I do love the classic magic show format. Ran out of time before I could see Mac King. But I'm not too disappointed...I'm already planning my next trip.