Stage Magic Routine

[8REVgage]

Hi everyone, I'm looking to do my first large show, and I'm looking for a few suggestions in terms of effects. The show will be between 30-60 minutes, I was told to fill as much as I could. It's an outdoor venue and will be at the end of July. I'm mostly a card guy so I'm not sure exactly where to start.

So far I have planned Chris Ballingers 'Fraid Knot (With Pop Haydns Mongolian Pop Knot), A custom effect where I have a canvas burst into flames, burning out a selected card, a thumb tip/silk routine, and a modified bullet catch.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you again

 

[RealityOne]

So my first thought is that those effects really don't work together. a rope routine and a silk routine seem like "all ages" magic and the bullet catch and flaming canvas routine seem more adult oriented.

To give you some good advice tailored to your abilities and style, it would be helpful if you could answer the following questions:

Who is your audience for the show?
How many people will there be?
How long have you been doing magic?
How many times have you performed for large groups?
What effects do you perform most often?
How would you describe your character?
What resources (books, DVDs, etc.) do you have?

 

[8REVgage]

It's a buy in show, so the target audience will be dependent on how we advertise it.
It looks like we will be anywhere from 50-100, so not huge, but too large for card magic
15 years, almost 16
Apart from a talent show for about 300 back in high school, I usually only get to 20-30 people when doing parties and the like.
I'm deadset on the flaming canvas, as it's an original routine and I want to premier it, though usually do cards, and some common stage stuff like levitations.
I've performed as a few personas depending on the situation, but I'm usually friendly and talkative. Close up magic is my specialty because of that.
I have the royal road, Encyclopedia of card tricks by Hugard, Big book or card and magic tricks by Jon Tremaine, as well as some other miscellany.

I would rather orient this towards adults than children, and thank you very much for your help.

 

[jasonkillsx]

Since it's outside you will more than likely not have a projector so I highly advise against card tricks even though that's what you're comfortable with. Card tricks are just hard for people in the back rows to see so it kind of takes them out of the magic (I've been an audience in the back and trust me I know).

You have approximately three months to prepare so that's the good news. What kind of budget do you have to work with if you don't mind me asking?

 

[8REVgage]

Since it's outside you will more than likely not have a projector so I highly advise against card tricks even though that's what you're comfortable with. Card tricks are just hard for people in the back rows to see so it kind of takes them out of the magic (I've been an audience in the back and trust me I know).

You have approximately three months to prepare so that's the good news. What kind of budget do you have to work with if you don't mind me asking?

Yeah, thats why I'm avoiding them. I was also looking at doing metamorphosis and I do a chain shackle escape a lot if thats of any use.

My budget isn't set in stone, but I would probably say ballpark of $100 unless something catches my eye, in which case it might be a good investment

 

[jasonkillsx]

Metamorphosis plays pretty great if you can get the setting right. I typically get about 10-15 minutes out of my chain shackle escape routine. It's the other 50 minutes that I would worry about. An hour of stage show magic is a lot more complicated than a thirty minute close up show. You basically have all eyes on you for an hour and it will make you feel wiped out by the end of it. To help you fill in the other 50 minutes, I'll give you some recommendations of material that will fit into your budget that you should be able to craft, practice, and perform within the three month time span. I hope these recommendations will help.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/9102 -This is one of my favorite Tarbell lessons I have purchased. There is so much great material in this download that you will get more than what you pay for.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/7643 - This lecture had great material on it. Both Scott and Dan have great material that will work for almost any age groups including adults which I know you're trying to focus on.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/9319 -This lecture has a bunch of pack small, play big effects that will be great for any audience. There is a bunch of special guest cameos so you get a variety of different performance styles.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/6354 -This one features only Scott Alexander material but trust me, it is well worth the asking price. The last effect is a stage illusion you can make for just a couple of bucks. The concept is straight out of Victory Carton Illusions by UF Grant which is another great source.

 

[jasonkillsx]

Metamorphosis plays pretty great if you can get the setting right. I typically get about 10-15 minutes out of my chain shackle escape routine. It's the other 50 minutes that I would worry about. An hour of stage show magic is a lot more complicated than a thirty minute close up show. You basically have all eyes on you for an hour and it will make you feel wiped out by the end of it. To help you fill in the other 50 minutes, I'll give you some recommendations of material that will fit into your budget that you should be able to craft, practice, and perform within the three month time span. I hope these recommendations will help.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/9102 -This is one of my favorite Tarbell lessons I have purchased. There is so much great material in this download that you will get more than what you pay for.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/7643 - This lecture had great material on it. Both Scott and Dan have great material that will work for almost any age groups including adults which I know you're trying to focus on.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/9319 -This lecture has a bunch of pack small, play big effects that will be great for any audience. There is a bunch of special guest cameos so you get a variety of different performance styles.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/6354 -This one features only Scott Alexander material but trust me, it is well worth the asking price. The last effect is a stage illusion you can make for just a couple of bucks. The concept is straight out of Victory Carton Illusions by UF Grant which is another great source.

Some of the links broke for some reason. I'll repost:
http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/7643
http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/9319
http://www.penguinmagic.com/p/6354

 

[RealityOne]

Some card tricks , if presented right, can play to bigger audiences such as tossed out deck, invisible deck and cards across. That said, based on the other effects you are talking about the card tricks won’t fit in with the feel of the show unless you use them as a change of pace.

@jasonkillsx had some good recommendations. There also is a lot of material you can adapt from the original Tarbell series (the one book volume not the 7 or 8 book series) and from Mark Wilson’s Complete Course.

The best advice I can give you is to script out your show. Each effect should be more than five minutes.