This was a blast from the past for me when I found it was available on dvd. I have been a fan of Henning since I was 10. I had not seen this show and was excited about checking it out. The show is a musical and is heavy on song and dance with the magic layered throughout and an extended performance of Henning towards the end of the show. Tricks include torn and restored newspaper, a couple of interesting levitations, one with a fountain of water, appearing and disapearing people and animals and my fav trick of all time Houdini's Metamorphosis. The show is a bit silly but fairly entertaining though dated. I enjoyed seeing Henning in action again even though it was on dvd.

Maybe one day we will see Henning's TV specials on DVD, but until then, The Magic Show DVD is a good substitute. I had seen Doug perform live many times, got up on stage to help with the sub-trunk once and met him on a few occasions. This DVD, while not 100% true to the original Broadway show (they changed some songs, added in new, big illusions), is an excellent representation of Doug's magic and highly recommended for any Henning fan.

If you've never seen Henning, this is a good place to understand what he did. While younger people may think Doug's performing style is outdated, you're probably correct, however, for his time, Henning was groundbreaking.

Doug brought something to magic that few ever had before or since - he made magic fun.

Does anyone know the legal status of the Henning television magic specials ? Who owns them ? (Debbie Henning ?) Why not release them on DVD ? There are a lot of younger magicians and magic fans who don't really know Henning. Doug's first live television show, the World of Magic special from 1975 was something really special to me. I'd love to see that again. Some of the later specials got a little bit corny in the writing and the over-reliance on "comedy" from the guest stars , but I'd still like to see those again , too. But the first two live specials were amazing.

There are several Henning clips on youtube

It's funny... I just saw this thread. I had the DVD on me for many months and never viewed it. I recently watched it and was a bit startled.
When I was a kid I actually saw the show on Broadway several times and saw a road company presentation of it.
I was kind of shocked to see the DVD version. Apparently over the years they decided to enhance the original stage show by introducing some of the effects that Doug did on his TV specials. Personally I thought that took away some of the charm the original Broadway show had. They also removed and changed a couple of songs that were really great.
I really don't understand why they did all that, but it was still fascinating to watch again. It won't replace the memory of sitting in the front row and being an arm's distance as Doug did some of his stuff or talking to him afterwards at the backstage entrance, but it was nice to see it again.

greg

Now if we could just get Merlin on DVD! At least there are some YouTube clips floating around.