“The closer you think you are, the less you’ll actually see.” — no truer words have been used to describe the Now You See Me franchise than this quote said by J. Daniel Atlas (played by Jesse Eisenberg) when we meet him in the first film.
Like every other kid out there, I grew up amazed by magic. I can still remember nights where I would defy my bedtime just to stay up and watch a David Copperfield special on Channel 5, waiting excitedly to get mind blown when he interacts with the TV viewers for his trick.
So, when I heard that Now You See Me Live was headed for Singapore, I was intrigued by the idea of actually turning the franchise into a live stage show, with everything happening right before my eyes.
From the moment the show started, I felt very much immersed into the world where the Four Horsemen existed. Every bit of the opening was as theatrical as the first time we meet the horsemen on screen, from the use of the film’s iconic theme to the introduction of each magician, and even that homage to Henley’s (played by Isla Fisher in the film) dress-changing trick that was perfectly executed by Gabriella Lester.
The first half of the show was where we would get to see each magician show off their skill sets. Matthew Pomeray brought the laughs and awe with his impressive phone in melon trick, followed by Gabriella’s confounding (and slightly dangerous) locked box escape.
Andrew Basso took his turn next, with closeup magic done, together with the assistance of a little boy in the audience. While I liked the big stage magic tricks, I am particularly fond of magic that is done up close and personal.
For this, Andrew didn’t disappoint. Not only was his little assistant in awe, the audience were equally astounded by this seemingly simple trick of transporting one coin from the right to the left hand. No one attempted to explain away how the trick was done, and it just seemed like everyone accepted that the coin travelled through air by magic.
The last to showcase his solo set was Pablo Cánovas, who delivered a cheeky performance of a trick within a trick. I liked his refreshing way of purposefully dissecting the way an illusion is done, only to fool the audiences with another trick up his sleeve that left us truly bamboozled.
A key highlight of the show, for me, was the interaction with the audience which helped to keep us engaged. I enjoyed how we were given a chance to perform magic too, using a simple card trick. Of course, there were hits and misses for this trick, but when the trick worked, it felt pretty satisfying.
After the interval, the second half of the show brought the magicians together in pairs to perform, safe for another highlight of the night where Andrew Basso showed us why he is named the best escapologist in the world.
Dubbed the natural successor to Harry Houdini, Andrew performed Harry’s renowned Water Torture Cell Escape, and it was the most stressful 2 minutes of my night.
As someone who always said she would NEVER want to die by drowning, I watched with anxiety as Andrew was lowered, head first, into the water tank with his hands cuffed and his ankles shackled. With the tank locked, I cycled through the worst possible scenarios that could happen in my mind just as Andrew started to pick the lock at his hands.
Watching him calmly tackle the locks while holding his breath was truly nerve-wrecking, but it only made me realise just how much blood, sweat and tears Andrew must have shed to hone his skills into what they are now.
Needless to say, when he got himself out in under 3 minutes, all I could do was clap in admiration and think just how proud Harry Houdini would have been to know that his legacy lives on in passionate magicians like Andrew.
While the show on a whole was absolutely brilliant, I did feel that there was a missed opportunity to bring any of the film’s iconic tricks to the stage. Since we’ve only ever seen these tricks through the screen, it would have been a great way to tie it back to the franchise and give the audience a real up-close view of the trick.
I mean, how awesome would it be to actually see that bank vault scene with the poker card (from Now You See Me 2) come to life before your very eyes?
With that said, even though I am now at an age where I know certain tricks were made possible through the sleight of hand and the art of misdirection, I liked how the show made it easy for me to suspend reality for just a bit and enjoy the possibility of magic existing.
Because, at the end of the day, seeing is believing, but is it the truth? Well, that depends on your point-of-view.
