VegasChatter

So has he still got it? Pretty much, yes, but it feels like MGM Grand is trying to magic his mojo away from him. The theater is dismal. It looks tired, it smells tired, it feels like it’s been dark since the late 70s and has only just reopened. We were bang in the front row, since Copperfield’s team had given us our ticket, so it’s possible that we were overwhelmed by sitting at his feet (literally – nicely shined shoes, David), but the place felt like it had had the atmosphere sucked all out of it. So poor Copperfield is up against it from the start.

But - and here’s the magic part – he has still got it. Yes, he’s older. On a totally shallow note, he’s not quite as foxy as he was in his glory days, and he could probably dress sharper than a blue shirt over a t-shirt (Hi, early 90s Dad). But, where it matters, he steps up to the mark.

In the space of 90 minutes, he did the following:
Squeezed himself into a box measuring about a foot long
Transported himself from under a huge steel plate to on top of it
Walked through a giant rotating fan
Predicted a series of numbers and dates that he then got ‘randomly’ from the audience
Teleported a bunch of audience people from the stage to the back of the auditorium
Magicked a car out of thin air
Plus everything else you’d expect from a magic show (card tricks involving a scorpion, pulling ducks out of buckets, disappearing rings, etc etc)

Also, something we were totally surprised to realize – Copperfield has a wicked sense of humor. He takes the piss out of himself – how he used to look in the 80s, faking his tricks, schmoozing the laydees in the audience – and he has a fantastically lewd eyebrow throwing shapes when he says things like “I have to penetrate the steel and end up on top”. It’s not just scripted, either – he came out with some pretty sharp lines to his audience volunteers, too (tip: if you’re a sensitive soul, don’t volunteer for stuff, and definitely don’t come in late to the show).

Of course, there were some parts of the show we didn’t like. The trick where he makes a load of ties dance was too cutesy/family-orientated for us, the floating origami rose we found a bit schmaltzy, and we didn’t like the stuff he does with a duck, either (it was too much like the bog standard rabbit out of a hat, plus our animal rights hackles rose at the idea of the poor duck having to work to a background of thumping music and a braying audience).

But to be fair, it’s a 90 minute show, and you can’t expect him to bust out a car out of nowhere every two minutes. He has to throw in some more mundane stuff, otherwise he might, um, hurt someone. Also, he’s not going to do anything as huge as walking through the Great Wall of China, because he’s in a small theater. But the walking through a giant rotating fan is equally impressive, once you factor in that it could slice his appendages off at any point.

Upshot: the amazing stuff he does do is so good that you can ignore the dancing ties and the grotty theater. The trick with the car – which was so unexpected it had us swearing loudly at his feet – would merit the ticket price alone. Also, if you grew up on Copperfield as we did, seeing him at such close quarters is a pretty cool experience.

So be prepared for the lousy setting (note to MGM Grand – Copperfield deserves better than that heap of grot), and anticipate that you will likely be underwhelmed by the dancing ties (unless, of course, dancing ties are your thing), and you will love it. Despite our moans, we left the theater confused, disorientated and what felt like a monster hangover from our brains working overtime in an attempt to figure it all out.

Actually, that’s another tip. Try and take it a little less seriously than us. The mindfreak feels grim, and you won’t be any the wiser as to how he does it. Just embrace it, dancing ties and all.

Shows nightly at 7.30pm and 10pm until 10 March then again from 18-31 March. There’s also a 4.30pm matinee on Saturdays. Tickets from $79 ($89 inc tax and fees).

Disclaimer: VegasChatter reviewed the show as a guest of the Copperfield