Card tricks for stage

[DannyT]

Hey guys,

Today I had to do a speech for my Public Speaking class in college.
I had to bring in something "valuable" for "show and tell". lol
I may be a magician, but I'm horrible at speaking in front of people. I think that this class will definitely help me improve on being a magician.

So we had people bringing in pictures, jewelery, poems, etc.

Instead of bringing in an object that I cared a lot about, I talked about how performing magic meant a lot to me. I told them my background and how I got into magic. I went into a discussion about Cardistry and showed them some flourishes. They were really impressed and had never seen that before.

At the end, the Professor asked, "Any questions."
I was so excited to see so many hands raised.

I was anticipating 1 question in particular, "Can you do a trick."
I said, "Yeah," and asked someone to help me out.
Of course, it was a really hot girl that wanted to see a trick, so she jumped right up and shouted "Me!" and joined me in the front of the room.

I performed 1 trick that's been mentioned in just about every Daniel Madison thread here, and that was Angle Zero.
She was really amazed and kept saying, "No Way" as I opened my wallet to show it was in the photo sleeve.

She turned to the class in shock, and just then did my Professor ask a question that made my day, "Does it match up with the other piece?"
The girl takes it and matches it up and says, "It fits exactly."

Everyone claps for me, also followed by more questions.
My favorite question was, "How did you do that?"
I looked at them and said, "magic." - LOL
I just kept making them laugh with each question, "Can you count cards."
"Yes, 1,2,3," as I kept dealing into my other hand.

I got to my seat and my professor told me that if I ever wanted to do a trick before class any day, I can go ahead and do so. I said that'd be cool. Then I listened to what others brought in.
As it was time to leave this kid came up to me in the hallways and asked, "What was the name of cutting cards thing again." I told him it was called Cardistry and kinda left (had to go different ways), which now thinking about it, I wish I'd said more.
I'm so proud that I did this today in class and felt like sharing it with people who would care.

Now let's get into my thread title.
My Public Speaking class is actually a theater. I wasn't performing on stage(only right next to it), but thought next time that I should.
As I mentioned I performed Angel Zero which was really good, but I don't think many people saw the vanish as good from distance.

I want to perform some card magic that will be really good for stage magic. Just a normal deck, no jumbo cards. What tricks would you recommend?
Also, I have a couple of non-card tricks such as ring flight and loops.
Which loops tricks would you suggest?

I really wanna go back to class to do something special, something that would totally freak them out.
I already have some ideas in mind, but I think I need everyone's opinion.

Thanks so much guys for reading.

-DannyT

 

[Teddy]

maybe you could do a levitating card or the trick where you throw the cards up and catch theirs. but what i like to do it flick the card out of the deck by controlling it to the bottom and showing the top cards asking if its theirs and looking confused, then flicking their bottom card out of the deck

 

[Dima]

You could force a card and then read the participant's body language and so on. Pick the hot girl again and you're set to go.

Just take something simple and present it out of your skin.

 

[Sean_Raf]

If you're into mind-reading, Richard Osterlind's Radar Deck is very powerful.

- Sean

 

[NeoMagic]

Have you ever thought about tricks to music or Tricks on stage with a camera like this. (only if you have time to set up) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5frj2No_nc Seen him live in Monterey Ca. Great stuff. He gets great reactions. Here is a split screen link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkYNAwdFH9M

 

[Chr!s]

Are your choices limited to cards?

I find that any form of mentalism, even card based demonstrations, play VERY well.

David Acer has some very cool stage-friendly effects in his books. My favourite is 'Random acts of magic'. Still one of my best purchases in magic!

If you are not limited to cards, metal bending works on stage. And Richard Sanders routines from 'Fiber Optics' are just phenomenal.


What are your select criteria?


CL

 

[Deechristopher]

It may seem cheesy - but for stage card effects a card sword can work really nicely. If you have access to a cam/projector set up a really nice piece by piece TnR to music could be cool

But I agree with Chris, don't just limit yourself to cards, think a little outside the box - If you did want to do a card routine, why not build it into a drawing duplication using an impression board.

They would think of a card, draw a picture of said card to show the audience (alot easier to see than a little card - but still not ideal without a camera) and then you get your impression and do the duplication... Maybe have them think of a card and a word and link them, like in memory techniques to form a picture.

They draw the picture and you dupe it and decipher the card and word.. I don't know, this is just off the top of my head, but mentalism is much easier to play big. You need next to no props and it works so well. Look at all the famous mentalists throughout time- a lot of their one man shows were pretty minimalist!

Oh, another stage card routine just came to mind - The tossed out deck, it was a David Hoy idea originally, but lots of mentalists have done work on the plot

D.

 

[Mat La Vore]

• Tossed Out Deck (Gazzo)

• Radar Deck (Richard Osterlind)

• Cards Across (Lot of good ones out there--Bill Malone's Cards Across and Paul Harris's Las Vegas Leaper are my two favorite)

• Invisible Deck

Happy Magic

 

[Deechristopher]

I'm not sure I'd agree with the invisible deck to be honest, unless you did have a cam up there, otherwise there's no way it's power would relay as in a close up sitch.

I think the key thing to think about when writing and routining for stage is that unless you have a cam and projector, or you're working a really small venue is that you don't want focus on the cards, the visual won't carry as most people won't be able to see what's going on - that's why the big focus in the thread is on mentalism as all the magic happens in the heads of the spectators, so visuals aren't as vital as in a card transpo or whatever.

I remember one of my first proper stage shows, was in a theatre in front of about 2000 people and as I primarily worked with cards and visual magic at that point, (was very inexperienced with mentalism at that stage) I focused on some uber simple plots and dressed them up to make them look bigger than they were.

I took 2 people up to the stage in one routine and had them stand a distance apart. I placed 10 cards under a foot of each of them and made the cards travel across one by one. With a few little twists and what knot along the way.

Super basic stuff, but add in a good dose of personality and you can have the room.

Rather than giving you definitive routines to perform, it's better that you get an understanding of the mindset and presentational skills you'll need to carry yourself well on stage.

I mean look at Uri Gellar - He got up on stage and bent a spoon, in not even a particularly impressive way in comparison to today's standards, but his persona and other skills had the entire room enthralled in his performance.

D.

 

[ajelsma]

just for fun check out amazing jonathan

or do ten card poker deal by luke jermay

or one of my favorite remote viewing because it hits hard by luke jermay

 

[Rmana]

I personally think good patter can make any card trick really good on the stage because you can really emphasize on the little things like what card was chosen, where you're placing it and what have you. Also, when working with a bigger audience, jumbo index cards might help people see.

As for a trick itself that I think would play well to a bigger audience, pick up Distortion... For some reason people always say to get "Wow", but I personally think Distortion is just so much more visual and vibrant that people are a bit more freaked out.