Introduce yourself.
Make it entertaining.
Do magic.
ROFLMAO
I can't top that. . . but I will try to shine a different light on things.
Let's start with the fact that you will "soon" have a show. . . "
Why aren't you prepared?"
Don't accept the gig if you don't have the act -- you can't sell a product if it doesn't exist.
I know, you said you have a few things that you do mostly. . . but do you have an actual act? Are those things choreographed and sequenced in a manner that delivers solid entertainment alongside enchantment?
I'm betting they aren't because you are asking this particular question -- "How to Open?"
Blackstone opened his club act with a Bird Cage in hand. . . Copperfield has a stage filled with heavy fog, flashing lights and dancers. . . Henning arrived in a Magical Elevator. . . Mandrake and others would appear in a cloud of smoke and then move into a manipulation act. . .
The moral of the story is, everyone opens different based on a developed persona but likewise, the style of magic that best reflects the style, class, and skills that individual has. For some reason I'd doubt you'd be running out and dropping $30,000.00 on a bunch of feather flowers to do the Blackstone Garden opener BUT, you might sock around $10,000.00 into building up a solid Dove Act (Pollock Act). You might just drop a couple of hundred into a really good Billiard Ball & Silk routine.
What works for you based on
your vision? What can you visualize that makes a quick statement and defines you as being someone "special" that isn't like all the other magicians out there?
This is all part of creating
your "Character" and building
your act. I can give you 1,001 ideas but they are based on what I would do if I were building a particular type of program. The opening to my Horror shows weren't the thing I'd open with when doing a family program (the parents would lynch me).
I'm not certain if you can find them these days, but when I was a kid there were these things called BOOKS that we were encouraged to READ and even STUDY. Amazingly, these are the things that had ideas and depending on the kind of book you were studying, they might even give you step-by-step instructions as to how to make as well as perform some really cool tricks . . . the stuff you see on Tv or Youtube these days but nifty things that seem to have gone the way of the dinosaur. But if you could spend some time with a few of those books I bet you could bring something back to life that fits you and the character you are right now. I'll even bet you could make the other magicians in the region give you some kudos for taking such initiative. So maybe that's something to consider looking into?
