Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The amiable VITALY squarely delivers wonders

• By drediman
• September 12, 2018
• No Comments

Vitaly Beckman in “Vitaly: An Evening of Wonders” at the Westside Theatre. Photo by Jeremy Daniel.

Last night, I continued my foray into the world of New York’s magic shows with Vitaly: An Evening of Wonders. Certainly, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child continues to wow Broadway audiences not only with its astonishing stagecraft, but also with its parade of awe-inspiring illusions. But scratch below the surface, and you’ll find quite a bit of magicians displaying their wares just off the Great White Way. Among my recent outings, I was notably charmed by Siegfried Tieber in the slight and intimate See/Saw in Greenpoint. I was also enraptured by Derek DelGaudio’s soulful and profound In & Of Itself, of which I attended the emotional final performance.

Which brings us to Vitaly Beckman and his show Vitaly: An Evening of Enchantment. In my book, it falls squarely into the bucket of entertainments like the crowd-pleasing The Illusionists, which is coming back to Broadway this fall. He’s definitely a skilled magician – although some of the magic from his bag of tricks is more polished than others – and an amiable host. It was also refreshing to see tricks I hadn’t seen before (although the requisite, standard card and mentalist tricks were also in his repertoire), particularly the ones involving the manipulation of photographs and other images. His concept of connecting of art and magic is a compelling one, although I wish he shaped his show a bit further along those lines. As it stands, Vitaly and his evening of trickery is nothing less than entertaining, but it rarely transcends into the realm of true enchantment.

Indeed, when combined with psychological depth and allegorical insight, magic shows can be potent, penetrating stuff. Just take Mr. DelGaudio’s aforementioned In & Of Itself, the shows of Penn & Teller (particularly their last outing on Broadway), and Derren Brown’s Secret at the Atlantic Theater last year. These shows proved that sleight of hand, when presented within the context of life itself, can be piercing, mind-altering experiences. I look forward to continuing my exploration of the world of magic and its potential theatricality and immersive qualities with this month’s anticipated return engagement of At the Illusionist’s Table at the McKittrick Hotel (the home of the long-running Sleep No More).

RECOMMENDED

VITALY: AN EVENING OF WONDERS
Off-Broadway, Play
Westside Theatre
1 hour, 20 minutes (without an intermission)
Through September 30