We had a great show yesterday at the Proctors Theatre – what a fantastic audience!! The crew was very efficient and professional making our day of set up run fairly smooth. But we did have a few surprises throughout the day. At one point, the fire alarms started going off – strobes flashing and alarms ringing through the theatre. We thought our hazers set them off but we were assured by their Lighting Engineer that it had nothing to do with it. Firetrucks and firemen arrived along with the local police department to make sure everything was okay.
The door opened at 1:30pm for a 2pm show for a practically sold out audience of more than 2,000 people. They came in with such enthusiasm we knew they were going to be a great crowd.
I had the privilege of meetings hundreds of people after the show in the lobby outside the main theatre. I appreciated so much the comments and encouragement from adults, teenagers, kids, college students, senior citizens – everyone who stopped by to say hello and share their favorite moment in the show. And we’ve received several emails in the office as well. THANK YOU!
The entertainment critic from the DAILY GAZETTE (Paul Lamar) also had a few nice words about the show. He was a little disappointed with the underwater escape because he wasn’t allowed to WATCH me escape and wondered if someone was sneaking around “behind the curtain” to unlock the locks. Hmmm, that would definitely make the escape much easier!
Overall, he had kind words. Here are a few of them:
Family-friendly Spencers amuse Proctors crowd with their tricks
Monday, March 31, 2008
Paul Lamar
“Seeing is believing.†And its opposite: “I couldn’t believe my eyes.â€
Illusionists depend on an audience’s ability to be in both states at once, illusionists like The Spencers, a husband-and-wife duo who offered up a pleasant, if not startling, afternoon of magic on Sunday at Proctors Mainstage.
There was a good-sized crowd, some of whom, like Nathan, Jimmy, Adrianna, Dick, and Mark, got to participate in a few of the tricks, and Kevin Spencer knew exactly how to treat his accomplices and play to the house. His timing as a comedian was as sharp as his timing as a magician. He spoke warmly about his origins in the business, his tours, and his relationship with Cindy, and that sentimentality was underscored with treacly music. But he was, finally, so amiable that you were simply charmed.
It was a popcorn-eating audience of adults and children, yours truly included, and if the Spencers did a public service with their 90-minute entertainment, it was to tickle the fancy of some kid who may already be home practicing the most rudimentary card trick or Kevin’s amusing silk scarf deception in hopes of having a career in hoodwinking.
I liked a number of acts, including the two that had the lovely Cindy beside herself. I never understood how a woman could be cut in half, but for my money, that’s exactly what happened to her!
I also fell for the ripped up Sunday edition of the first section of The Gazette (sorry, boss!), the ESP game, and the walking through a cinderblock wall. Always the showman, Kevin anticipated our every question about how the trick was done without ever denying that a trick was involved. Chutzpah!
In one of his speeches, Kevin noted that “magicians allow an audience to wonder at the world.†In their best moments, The Spencers had me scratching my head, too.