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CentralMagic24 New user Michigan 1 Post |
Over the years, Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio has had a magician perform during there Halloweekends themed months. They have had many years in a row of good magicians such as Aaron Radatz, Chris Linn, & Tim Hill. This year and last year however, the magicians have been completely replaced by amateur dancers. Your probably thinking huh?
Cedar Point appears to have went out and purchased multiple stage illusions, and instead of having a magician perform the illusions as everyone is used to, they have a bunch of dancers dance around. Every once in a while a dancing ringleader looking guy will come out and the trick will happen on stage. Also, in between sets, when the curtain is closed they have a dancing guy in a suit come out front for some dancing close up dancing magic... They whole thing just made magic appear silly and almost dumb. Like "looky here any dancing fool can do it!..hee hee hee!!!" I was very turned off by Cedar Point's attempt at a magic show the past 2 years. Aaron Radatz put on a great show for many years, it was exciting, funny, and personable. Chris Linn's show was hilarious and very stunning. Tim Hill was great as well. It just seems like someone at Cedar Point had a light bulb pop in there head,..."Hmmm, I wonder if it would be cheaper to purchase the illusions (or rent) and not have to pay a magician to perform 5 times a day... I am providing a Youtube link to a recording of this years Magic show at Cedar Point. Or should I say, this years dancing show with a few illusions that happen in the background. Also, I did not record this, and I apologize for the bad angle this was recorded in. So far, this is the only recording of the show I could find on Youtube. So what do you all think of Cedar Point going away from hiring a magician and replacing them with just purchasing the illusions and having their dancers perform the tricks? Cedar Point Presents - Sideshow: A Carnival of Magic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9Ns0i3_uA0 |
hugmagic Inner circle 7655 Posts |
This is similar to what the Cruise ship industry has tried to some degree. They buy the illusions instead of renting them or paying a magician to bring his on board. They have still hired magicians to work the show but it certainly is not the same as a guy with his own props.
Years ago, Mark Wilson did this to some degree in his theme park shows. David Saxe did it with his "ShowGirls of Magic" show. Circus of the Stars was another version of giving non magicians boxes to push and point at. It is not the ideal situation but it is what it is. Unfortunately, it is a shame the word magic has to be in the show as it gives magic a black eye. Richard
Richard E. Hughes, Hughes Magic Inc., 352 N. Prospect St., Ravenna, OH 44266 (330)296-4023
www.hughesmagic.com email-hugmagic@raex.com Write direct as I will be turning off my PM's. |
ClintonMagus Inner circle Southwestern Southeast 3997 Posts |
Sorry, but this is just horrid! It's a dancing show... with bad dancing!
Things are more like they are today than they've ever been before...
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Kevinr Inner circle 1854 Posts |
Quote:
On 2012-10-30 02:15, CentralMagic24 wrote: Stage, lighting, music are good.. Better than some sadly. Take away a few of the dancers (way way to many) put the 2-3 left in more revealing clothes and you sadly have an illusions show. I have seen much worse. |
magicbymccauley Special user 830 Posts |
Song and dance, not enough magic. It happens.
"Tricks are about objects, Magic is about life."
-Max Maven |
ProdigyMagic New user 11 Posts |
Wow... This is just.. Not good. Not good at all!
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thorin_10 New user Bilbao, Basque Country 58 Posts |
This kind of shows devalues magic
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Bernie Balloons Elite user N.Y.C. 480 Posts |
If I watched this any longer than 5 mins . I would of hated magic forever.
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charliecheckers Inner circle 1969 Posts |
I read all of the posts here prior to watching the video. I was expecting it to be better than some here had described, and figured that the reviews were harsh because non-magicians were being featured. The show started out as some sort of very bad dream of bad dancers mixed with stereotypical charachters of clowns and circus leaders all combined in a horific illusion. The music was exactly what would be playing in a bad dream of this sort. What followed was no better. I kept watching (for 14 minutes) expecting it to get better. I then spent way too much time searching for reviews of the show from patrons who saw the show live and had no preconceived perceptions. Unfortunately, even the Cedar Point forums seemed uninterested for the most part. There were more mentions of the shows from previous years. I was unable to read any meaningful reviews. What I took away from watching the video, is that it is a lot harder than it looks to present either dancing or magic or circus acts in an entertaining fashion and that combining all three with performers of limited skills in all three areas does not work at all.
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Matthew W Inner circle New York 2456 Posts |
-Matt
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Aaron Smith Magic Inner circle Portland, OR 1447 Posts |
Wow.. I'm all about being a bit edgy, but dang. Ed has balls of steel.
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magicbymccauley Special user 830 Posts |
Blow up sex doll routine huh? OOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooook.
"Tricks are about objects, Magic is about life."
-Max Maven |
Swann101 Special user 558 Posts |
I love Ed's show!, he is a bit edgy but seem like he gets away with it as he plays this harmless looking caracter.
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Sealegs Inner circle The UK, Portsmouth 2596 Posts |
This type of thing has been happening for years. But before you despair at the thought of it... it's worth bearing in mind how long such shows last and as a consequence how thankfully few of these shows are actually around.
These illusion-shows-presented-by-dancers are inevitably going to be awful because such a show needs someone who has at their core an understanding that merely operating the illusions don't create anything magical. There needs to be a desire to make the illusions work as a show and dancers are never going to be as invested in the illusions an illusionist. Illusion shows, to be of any interest to the viewing public need an illusionist. The saving grace is the awfulness of these illusion shows without an illusionist inevitably and usually pretty quickly brings about their downfall. It's a question of companies cutting back the budget to the point where the product fails to deliver. At this point the results such shows produce become counter productive as they fall short of any acceptable gain to cost ratio. So even if they are cheaper to produce they don't result in more cash coming in. Richard mentioned that the cruise industry has tried this approach to some degree and indeed they have... but the cruise companies that have been down this road have also been quick to learn that presenting illusions is a specialised art and without some degree of personal interest, desire and investment in the illusions such shows end up being miserable affairs. The fact that the cruise industry continues to provide a lot of work for illusionists shows their understanding on what is required to make such a show work. So don't despair. Just wait a short time and the dancer illusionists will disappear. The question then is whether an illusionist regains their slot or whether something else takes their place.
Neal Austin
"The golden rule is that there are no golden rules." G.B. Shaw |
Bill Hegbli Eternal Order Fort Wayne, Indiana 22797 Posts |
Cedar Point has never paid anything but their standard wage for magicians, that is what they told me back in the 1980's. So they are not doing this to save money, but possibly to have large illusions in their shows. As a magician being hired, you were expected to do other duties and do your show as well, with your own props. I don't know any teenager or a person in their early 20's that can afford several large illusions and perform them for $7.00 an hour, plus room and boarding.
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akschulz New user London, UK via Charlotte, NC 81 Posts |
Funny story. I and my friend worked as roaming magicians at Carowinds Theme Park in Charlotte NC back in the day when they were debuting their Mark Wilson theme park magic show. For one of the seasons they were auditioning for the role of magician so of course we signed up. We ended up desperately trying to follow 8-counts and leg kicks while turning the wrong direction throughout the audition amidst 10 other professional dancers; turns out the role was for a dancer to play the part of magician. Oh well. In any case, as the season progressed we performed some actual magician stuff for the talent show at which the dancers and all other talent from the park were present. They seemed to get a kick out of our slight mocking of the "magic" moves in their show.
Here's a clip: http://youtu.be/PBdPXf6K67Y |
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