Illusionist Blends Magic and Opera

Patrick Bell has been performing magic and training as an opera singer since he was in his teens. He now combines the two forms of entertainment in his show, “Opera-Kadabra.”

While singing Figaro's aria from "The Barber of Seville," he escapes from a straitjacket (Bell claims that Houdini wouldn’t have been able to do this), and he produces a rose while singing the Toreador Song from “Carmen.” Bell refers to “Opera-Kadabra” as a way “to make classical music and opera entertaining to a generation that was weaned on rapid-fire MTV-style visuals.”