Evolving a Routine
I like Draun’s explanations where he often discusses why he performs a particular move in a certain way, which was typically the result of some negative comment that he received from spectators as his routines evolved. As a result, his approaches, which come from his vast experience, offer particularly useful knowledge and insight.Draun is one of the few performers that I’ve seen on DVD who is willing to talk about how his routines evolved and admit that spectators may have caught him at times. I appreciate his honesty and find his approach to be refreshing from the many other magicians who talk on their DVDs as if they have never been caught.
While I’ve only taken a brief look, I think that Draun’s Volume 3 disc features more of his signature routines that require high-level sleight-of-hand. Volume 1, on the other hand, offers Draun’s take on well known classics that he often performs. These are the commercial routines that he does for paying audiences.
The Monte
My favorite effect was 3 Card Monte. I’ve been working on a Monte routine for some time, but an entertaining routine has always eluded me. In Draun’s version, he fools spectators, but doesn’t offer the magician versus the crowd kind of approach that most Monte routines call for and require spectators to lose. It relies on the moves used in the real Monte with no gimmicks and plays almost like a color change and transposition routine. The ending, with the paper clip marking the target card instead of the bent corner, is brilliant.Draun offers a good Ambitious Card routine that flows well and builds. (In an Ambitious Card routine, a signed card continually rises to the top of the deck.) While his routine is brief, he offers solid variations and lots of advice on performing card to wallet. In $100 Bill Switch, Draun borrows a $100 bill and then quickly changes it into a one-dollar bill. It’s pretty much the standard effect.
Tying the Knot and Taking Flight
In Knotted Silks, Draun offers his take on a notable Slydini routine. Here, two silks that are repeatedly tied and knotted together somehow come apart. As the name implies, in Draun’s Vanishing Cigarette, a lit cigarette completely and mysteriously vanishes. In the Color Changing Knives, Draun offers his version of another close-up classic where pocket knives repeatedly change color. At the end, Draun resets the trick as he puts it away. Draun offers a good Cards Across and in his explanation, offers insights into palming, holding out and adding cards.Draun’s Ring Flight is fairly standard, but in his explanation, he shows how to construct your own gimmick. (In Ring Flight, a borrowed finger ring vanishes and is found to be in a magician’s key case).
While making your own gimmick sounds desirable, be warned that you’ll still have to purchase items from a magic dealer and probably won’t save money. But with Draun’s advice, you can make a gimmick that is more reliable. Interestingly, here, Draun fails to explain how to use the gimmick in performance.
On his volume 1 “Standing Room Only,” Steve Draun offers excellent versions of commercial classics and solid advice. If you want to learn Draun’s more high-level, sleight-of-hand routines, you’ll find these on later volumes.
-Wayne N. Kawamoto
Dealers can purchase from Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc.
MSRP: (US) $34.95
