SETLIST CONTINUED…CONTINUED (Act II and Act III)

Torn2Pieces: [Mistake #1 is destroying the final take] Shift in the focus of the show from Act I’s theoretical groundwork (“look at these skills magicians have… they’re so good at subtly manipulation situations”) into Act II’s practical applications (“Here’s what we’d actually need to pull off an art heist, AND why magicians could do it better). T2P is the simplest, most visual in-road to this idea. Many thieves (especially in a case like the Gardner Heist), simply slash the painting from its canvas and run away with it. It’s inelegant, and that’s the difference a magician can make: bringing subtlety and the elegant choreography of a magic trick to high crimes and misdemeanors. Could use a picture from the Gardner Heist, or something that spurs on a story that could be used in/as the transition from Act I to Act II. Let the final reveal of the mis-made piece be a mini version of the “twist” finale. The presentational flow is “here’s what’s wrong with heists” (the work gets cut, torn, rolled, destroyed, etc.), “Here’s what a magician would bring to the situation (elegance that respects the art), AND the closer you look at what happened, the harder it is to understand exactly what when down (twist reveal of mis-made). The transition into the next effect needs to be about how this isn’t based on insider knowledge or fancy tech, but on people. “Everything you’re about to see works because I pay attention to how people behave… and here’s your chance to do the same.” This idea as an “answer” to the routine should get set up at the outset of this section to help move the conversation element forward smoothly.

AKA: [Mistake #2 is getting the team wrong] Name-Game Psychometry type effect. Magician’s solution #1: You want a team full of a grifters. Con men never steal a single thing – they convince their marks to hand over what they want of their own accord. And they do that by watching, listening, and giving them what they want. People will always tell you what they’re thinking if you pay attention to what they’re saying AND what they’re not saying. And once you know what they’re actually thinking, you know what they want. Do the first 4 matching names to people. For the final name (after joke in script), When you learn to read people’s behavior like a language, it can look an awful lot like mind-reading… even when it’s not.

Cards Across (Or Verone Impossible Location): [Mistake #3 is not planning the escape / how to move the piece]. We know how to get to the thing, we know how to get the thing, now we have to get away with the thing. This should be the key skill – and where magicians shine – pulling off ridiculously obvious things in plain sight with no one realizing. The reason being we can push the focus gently around the one thing we don’t want people to see (almost like the Invisible Gorilla). Someone thinks of a card (or two cards if Cards Across) that they see, they say what it is out loud, and here we need FAUXCESS! Whatever the “magic move” is here has to be credible, visually interesting, and related to the show as a whole. This (or a variation with a twist) will be used in the finale and needs to carry a lot of subtext: the audience will become aware their attention is being controlled, and probably look for what they shouldn’t be seeing. As an example, the magic move could be some sort of gesture that I talk through that uses lots of fire/smoke wording or imagery (even as a joke that the sheer mental and physiological effort of it all leaves a gentle wisp of smoke curling in the air)

Final Color Transposition: Act III The Perfect Heist. (Probably needs smoke, hehehe… but actually… maybe the cube built into a deck box?). This is what it would look like. Set the stage – lighting, haze, laser lights bouncing off mirrored surfaces. Two decks of cards (one real, one forgeries that you can only tell from the back). Recap the skills we have that will allow us to pull it off, then do it. Undersell this moment. Have three people just think of cards (you have to know what someone is thinking), get to those cards cleanly (without destroying them), and get everything out (without a trace). At the moment of the “magic move,” a gentle wisp of smoke hangs in the air and the performer pauses, smiles, and moves to the reveal.

Outro: Need to tie it up somehow. Perhaps following on the idea of “the closer you look at the end, the more questions pop up about exactly what happened.” Perhaps the imagery of a single light bulb plugged into an outlet that gets turned off, unplugged, and then the outlet itself gets peeled off the wall. Need to find a thread that makes the single bulb important throughout. At the end, perhaps the space around them is changed outside of the show; AND there are talk triggers (laser cut diamonds?) that continue to appear into the future.

Act II / III Notes

  • Whereas Act I feels like a collaborative conversation, the back-and-forth of Act II in particular is more driven by the performer. The “questions” are address at the beginning of a routine by the performer and the magic that follows is the explanation of sorts. Act III should feel like a natural continuation BUT it’s important to leave them with a final, specific, unanswered question (perhaps/probably “HOW did he do it?”).
  • This show really has the potential to spur on conversations after the show, so thinking about the audience’s role both as co-conspirators and then (later) critics and analysts gives them multiple roles to play (and multiple options for how to engage with the show). As the show is being written, pay extra close attention to the roles different types of people might assume at any give moment, and be scripting for those different modes of engagement.