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ScottLeavitt Special user 730 Posts |
Just saw Nicolai perform at the Flicking Finger festival in NYC, and thought he brought a nice fresh face to mentalism -- beautifully/flawlessly performed effects, very warm/likeable personality....
Has anyone else had the opportunity to see his act? |
RickDangerous Special user I can't believe I made 974 Posts |
Great to hear that they do so well over there in the US!
Any details about his act?
"Reality is what you can get away with."
Robert A. Wilson "Think for yourself and question authority." Timothy Leary |
JuRim Regular user 112 Posts |
Hi,
I just recently saw his full evening show in Hanau/Germany. I also visited him in his flat in Friedrichsdorf - Nicolai is a very creative and nice guy beside beeing a excellent magician. I wrote a review for the German Magic magazine "Magic". If you like I will try to translate it for you guys. Greetings Jurim
I asked if she like cardtricks. she said:No! I did four...
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ScottLeavitt Special user 730 Posts |
Would be great if you could provide highlights of the article Jurim
Rick, the two that stood out for me were 1. Having a young woman place a picture of someone she loved in an envelop, and after mixing them up with a half-dozen others, she went into the audience to hand them out. After having the folks stand up by their seats (those with envelops), he told them to sit down one-by-one. Last one standing's envelop had the picture. 2. Had a woman sit on some steps up in the audience, and write out on separate pieces of paper the name of a city she'd like to travel to, colors of the dress she'd wear, and her favorite number (forget reason for the number). each piece of paper was folded up by her, and handed to someone in the audience to hold. Nicolai then revealed prediction of what she had wrote one-by-one. Key things that I liked about his act were 1) the effects were straight forward and easy to follow; 2) built emotion around them (wasn't just saying "I can read you mind!"). Even when/where I recognized the approach, the presentation made it extremely enjoyable. |
RickDangerous Special user I can't believe I made 974 Posts |
Sounds very nice to me! Thanks a lot
"Reality is what you can get away with."
Robert A. Wilson "Think for yourself and question authority." Timothy Leary |
qkeli Special user paris,france 792 Posts |
Jurim, it would be great if you could translate the artcile!!!thanks.
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JuRim Regular user 112 Posts |
Ok...here we go:
...He started with the often used often seen Twisting Arm Illusion, the one we all have seen done by Copperfield and other performers. But with the extra twist of taking his time to do the secret move... Followed by Nicolai´s version of the classic Mugged Trick ( Watch,Ring,Money)- very clean very fast... Rope thru Neck plus a cut and restored rope...Very nice version of the card printed on hankerchief... Bill Switch plus signed Bill to Peanut Box...Nice version of Board with Knifes... Booktest... (Scott,I hope it´s ok if I use your description) Had a woman sit on some steps up in the audience, and write out on separate pieces of paper the name of a city she'd like to travel to, colors of the dress she'd wear, and her favorite number (forget reason for the number). each piece of paper was folded up by her, and handed to someone in the audience to hold. Nicolai then revealed prediction of what she had wrote one-by-one. Break Nicolai started with Bowlarama - after it the AstroStar Booktest plus the Hour of Birth of the spectator. The Ballon: a freely selected Ballon is signed % blown up by a boy from the audience and after some pantomine of Nicolai- it starts to levitate...pretty cool. The Drawn-Card Rising plus the Trick which he performed on the Fertige Finger DVD. Murphey´s Chest with 7 keys (the right name?), Floating Table ala Harry Potter - MONA LISA (cool,cool,cool) Encore: Torn and Restored Napkin with spectator Linking Fingerrings (beautiful done) Lottery Prediction ( very complex to describe..people from the audience choose numbers with were predicted) Greetings Jurim
I asked if she like cardtricks. she said:No! I did four...
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ScottLeavitt Special user 730 Posts |
Thanks Jurim.
Enjoyed his presentation of MONA LISA in NYC as well. Interesting mix of magic and mentalism in your description. Guess he's not presenting himself as just one or the other... Thanks again for the translated review Jurim S |
Michael M New user Orlando, FL 87 Posts |
Greetings ScottLeavitt,
I also attended the two-day Flicking Fingers convention in NYC. Although Nicolai Friedrich was not the stand-out performer of the bunch to me, I do agree that his presentations are very fresh and well-thought out. As has been said, his ability to infuse an emotional link into his mentalism is something that I rarely see among those who perform mental magic. You are correct in saying that the majority of mentalists are those who present their effects simply as, "i can read your mind." That being said, I would have liked to have Nicolai play even more on his emotional presentations. For example, with the effect in which a photo is placed into the envelopes, then he has the audience rip up the envelopes one by one as he divines which one contains the photo... this has high dramatic impact due to the emotional bond the audience member has with the person in the photo. It is also an excellent alternative to the bank night, pseudo psychometry, graphology type of effect. However, I simply felt as though he could have 'played it up' just a little more to receive the most impact possible from such an effect. Then again, I am a student of theatre so perhaps I was just focussed on the drama in their presentations - I loved the presentational workshop. In fact, during the talk about high vs. low status, I thought about Nicolai's performance. I thought that Nicolai played a pretty strong high status role. I feel that if he himself didn't choose all the envelopes to be torn, but rather had the spectator help him, it would excite more drama and anticipation to if the woman would accidentally pick the envelope to be torn that contains the photo. It's the "use your own" intuition approach. It would have made Nicolai and the woman partners onstage, instead of Nicolai as the almighty mentalist. Just a few thoughts. Please feel free to contact me with any additional thoughts or if you'd like to talk about the convention, performers, and/or magic in general. Overall, it was an excellent event and I am more than pleased that I was able to attend. The best, Michael Matson |
Michael M New user Orlando, FL 87 Posts |
As a side-note, I also enjoyed his take on the rising card plot. It was an interesting presentation about the history of the effect vs. the modern exepections of such a magical feat.
Michael Matson |
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