I'm back from Copperfield in Cleveland. All I have to say is it was an outstanding night!!! This will be long but a very in depth review. Please read it...you'll love it.
Our seats were 12 rows back from the very front. I took the tickets that I originally had which were quite a bit further back and went to the front desk and asked them if there was any way possible to get my wife and I even closer. They lady was real nice about it and said yes and swapped them out for me. Now I was even more pumped.
As soon as we got seated I went down front to a girl in all black who had a walkie talkie and asked if there was any way Chris Kenner would come out and meet me just to say hi. She aked, "Who are you and where are you from?" I said Rick Everhart, from Theory 11 forums. She just smiled and said, let me see what I can do. 5 minutes later, yours truly, Mr. Kenner came out and shook my hand and we just basically said hi and talked briefly. He seemed very anxious and didn't have much to say because the show was starting in about 10 minutes. I thanked him for coming out anyway. He said to stick around afterwards and there might be a chance I could meet David.
The show starts with a big projection screen with a little preshow and music to build the hype. Music is now blaring and fog is coming onto the stage as the curtain goes up and there is a huge white shadow box before us. It is turned 360 degrees and completely empty. Slowly you see a hand, and then a shadow of David sitting on a Harley. Boom....the sides fall off and there he is...GRAND ENTRANCE and the place roars.
The next illusion was a huge piece of solid steel, probably 10 feet by 20 feet that is placed over top of David lying on an apparatus on stage. It is covered by a rubber sheet and sure enough, slowly you can see his hands pressing up through the sheet from underneath. Soon more and more of him is emerging from the solid steel and then he is left standing on top of the solid sheet of steel. Awesome.
Here is a list of some of his other effects:
1. duck bucket with his duck and some funny patter
2. floating rose which turns into a real rose when lit (sort of like Kevin James)
3. A card trick where a live scorpion finds the selected card out of a shuffled deck
4. a dancing men's tie act
5. walking through a huge fan but only to appear at the back of the theatre
(this piece of equipment was HUGE)
6. random numbers generated by audience members which end up appearing on
David's grandfather's old license plates, followed by the car appearing
7. a borrowed ring ending up tied to shoelace
I'm sure I'm leaving one or two things out but here was the finale.
David had 17 balls hit out into the crowd to get his people up on stage. The music is playing and balls are flying everywhere. As the music stops a ball lands one row behind me but so many people went for it...they all tapped it right into MY HANDS.....Yes...Now my heart is really racing because I get to go on stage with David.
I along with 3 other people were witnesses on stage to see his finale as close as you can get. David had the other 13 people climb inside this mini cage with chairs and flashlights and then teleported them to the back of the theatre. Awesome!!!! Even though I knew how it worked it was still really great. I was right there beside the apparatus and couldn't hear or see how it was being done.
I took my seat and everyone started questioning me and I just smiled and said I didn't see a thing except the people vanishing right before me as the cloth came off the cage.
As people gave David the ovation my wife and I stood around and waited as Chris told me to do for a possible chance to meet David. I was willing to stand there an hour to meet him and get a pic if I could. After the theater was empty except myself, my wife and 5 other people who had gone up for prior effects...we were all just kind of waiting around to see what would happen. One of the ladies in black asked me what I needed and who I was again. So...I told her my name and that Chris told me to stick around. She apparently went to go find him and came back and told me Chris was swamped getting ready for the next show and it didn't look like I'd get my chance. I was a little bummed because as she had my wife and I exit, I saw the other 5 people get to go back stage and meet him. Maybe they had won some contest to get to do that or something Oh well.
It was still an amazing night.
David Copperfield is probably the best ENTERTAINER I have ever seen. His music, props, patter, emotions, everything draws you in. It is not just wam bam and done with the effect like so many others. If you have not seen him live yet, you need to. I would have driven 3 or 4 hours and would have paid 3 times the ticket price to see the show I just witnessed.
If you read this entire review, thanks, I hope you enjoyed it.
Mr. Kenner, if you are reading this I just want to say thank you again for even taking the time to come out and meet me from back stage. That says a lot about you as a person. Awesome show.