Review: Celebracadabra - Week 1, Street Magic
After lots of hype, VH1's Celebracadabra finally aired. While many were afraid that the show would expose magic secrets, this was mostly not the case. The magic was decent and Celebracadabra is a reality show through and through that's designed to put pressure on contestants and encourage backstabbing.
Celebrities Performing Magic
To begin, I'm not fond of shows where celebrities are taught to perform magic. Unfortunately, this reinforces the misconception that anyone can do magic if they simply owned the tricked-out and gimmicked props, which is not the case.
On the other hand, if entertaining is largely based on personality and presentation, which is the case for magic, the show demonstrates how important this is. And the celebrities, by virtue of their entertainment and performing experience, are suited for magic.
Reality Premise
In the show, seven TV and film stars compete for the title of "Best Celebrity Magician." Celebrities include: Carnie Wilson, C. Thomas Howell, actress and comedian Lisa Ann Walter, Chris 'Kid' Reid, Hal Sparks, ANT and the Pussycat Doll's Kimberly Wyatt.
The celebrities are given 24-hours to learn and perform tricks. In classic reality style, one contestant is eliminated each show.
After profiling each celebrity, the intro talked about how each will be attempting to learn tricks that can take years to learn, which is a good start. While it's just a bit of hyperbole, I like the fact that the show acknowledges how difficult some magic is to learn and perform. A gaff in the show's opening montage, Chris Reid is shown holding a bunny by the ears. Not a great way to win friends among the public.
Hollywood’s Magic Castle receives a starring role and looks great on television, which should promote business. I recognize the rooms and backgrounds, and the Castle has been nicely dressed for its close-up.
Magic on the Streets
The first episode’s theme was street magic. Here, this meant David Blaine-style "street magic" - close-up, "wanna see something cool" effects performed on the streets for strangers. It was not the type performed by traditional performers such as Gazzo or Cellini. After cramming, the celebrities performed their magic at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica and on Hollywood Boulevard.
There were some painful performances. My cringing didn’t come so much from the fact that a trick was butchered, but was simply my empathy for a celebrity when a trick went bad.
I know how awful it feels to have a trick fail and we saw some definite train wrecks with a ruined card through window and a floating dollar bill that didn’t. I'm encouraged by the way the show demonstrated the challenges faced by magicians.
Beyond the magic itself, gathering a crowd on the street proved to be an obstacle. Welcome to our world. The ladies clearly had an easier time drawing crowds.
On the plus side, it was fun to see the elation when a trick worked. I know that feeling as well. Some of the successes included: ring to shoelace, mis-made bill, a suggestive card-to-stocking and a mouse production
Plus for Magic?
Was the show good for magic? As expected, the performances were not as entertaining or mystifying as those put on by good magic pros. The show demonstrated that a simple trick doesn’t make the magician or the entertainment. And that's a good thing.
The show slightly mocks magic and magicians with some disparaging remarks aimed towards Jeff McBride. Minor exposure did occur in a segment where Reid was learning a ring vanish that he had not yet mastered and that tipped the method.
Overall, the magic coaches: Rocco, Simon Lovell, David Regal, Asi Wind and Murray were positive ambassadors for our art, as were judges Jonathan Levitt, Franz Harary and Jeff McBride. I wish that Silly Billy, accomplished as he is, would not have brought his type of character to this show. Also, Derek Hughes could have dressed better for the part. Sloppy clothing doesn’t look edgy or hip, it's simply sloppy.
One final thought, I didn't care for the broken wand that accompanied the eliminated contestant. I prefer to save this dignified and revered imagery for our traditional magic ceremony. It's not something that should be exploited on a television reality show.
Next week, the celebrities take on kids shows. This could be interesting.
I watched the show through a free download via iTunes.
-Wayne N. Kawamoto
Comments
VARIETY REVIEWS CELEBCADABRA:
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117936895.html?categoryid=32&cs=1&nid=2562
REVIEW - NY DAILY NEWS & USER COMMENTS:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2008/04/26/2008-04-26_that_old_hack_magic_on_celebracadabra-1.html
SILLY BILLY/CELEBRA - NY POST:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04222008/gossip/pagesix/magic_turn_for_idled_clown_107601.htm
I’m a magician and I disagree on two points… First, I don’t think they made magic look easy. I think they made magic look really freakin’ hard. And second, that particular ring vanish that they showed the rapper learning was NOT the method he used on the street. (If it had been, he wouldn’t have needed an “Any Ring” hank.)
I don’t think my review says that the show made magic “look easy.” I agree with you that the show demonstrated the challenges of learning and performing magic. I think the review touches on this.
I agree that the ring vanish that Kid Reid was learning was not the one that he used on the street in the performance. As you suggest, I too believe it was the Sander’s marketed method.
What I was saying was that in the learning segment earlier in the show where Reid was practicing a basic ring vanish, he tipped the method. He was making the ring vanish and then showing where it was without the necessary reproduction.
Thanks for writing.
-Wayne
Ok…So… the exposure of the ring vanish may or may not have been evident in the show, so… let’s just make sure it’s pretty much revealed here, Daven, with “Any Ring” and “Sanders Marketed Method” and give the googlers some help why don’t we….while at the same time continuing to propagate the myth that all you have to do is BUY magic tricks, not read, learn and study magic, as Ellusionist is trying to prove on a daily basis, lol.
The internet….. sigh.
Nick
I must agree with your concerns over the image of the “broken wand.” This ritual, often used to commemorate the death of a magician, has no real place in this kind of TV show.
Beyond that I really do hope that the celebrities involved start to learn the most humbling fact about magic: Magic is never the product of the magician, it is made by the spectator. All the magician can do is create an opportunity for mystery- the spectator does the rest! Maybe once this sinks in we’ll see less show-boating and the “I got you” attitude that doesn’t make for good magic.
The more I think about it, the more I’m bothered by the misapplication and misappropriation of the “broken wand” imagery. As mentioned, this is how we honor magicians who have passed on.
Every magician involved in this show understands the relevance of this symbolic gesture. Unless some holy, non-magician, producer on high insisted that it be used, I can’t imagine any of the magicians involved with this show not objecting to its use.
-Wayne
As I think on it, the broken wand may only be an appropriate symbol of death as it applies to actual magicians. While for members of the fraternity it symbolizes death, the celebrities involved are not magicians.
However this line of reasoning really isn’t valid. The broken wand has a very powerful connection with death and dying for members of the magical community. “Hand in your wand” would’ve been just as effective and less offensive than breaking the wand.
For that matter I really do hope that ethics comes into play soon. The idea of ANT heckling the other performers is appalling to magicians, many of whom despise this kind of behavior.
Thank you for identifying the un-magician-style behavior - heckling another performer.
If indeed these celebrities are training to be magicians, they need to be taught to apply and respect the same ethics: no exposing secrets and no heckling.
If I’m not mistaken, I saw Asi Wind, Ant’s magic coach, participating in the building of the alliances during the show. I hope that Wind isn’t promoting heckling to win.
-Wayne
I’m glad they were “celebrities” because I never heard of any of them.