[rating=5] Chicago is a magical city. Not just for our history, our restaurants and our culture, but for its pure magic. We are home to Dennis Watkins, Dr. Ricardo Rosenkranz and a host of magicians that appear every night at the Chicago Magic Lounge, BUT now there is a new venue for magic. The old Morse Theater in Rogers Park has now become The Rhapsody Theater Chicago and claims to offer “the most magical night out!”. I have been to every magic show in and around the city as I am fascinated by the skill and artistry of these amazing performers.
Tonight, Jane and I were honored to visit this new venue and watch the amazing Dr. Larry Hass do his thing. Dr. Hass is not only a magician but is indeed the Dean of McBrides Magic and Mystery School in Las Vegas. People always ask where do all these magicians come from- now we know! Based on what we saw tonight, this makes sense.
This being the start of The Memorial Day weekend, the crowd was not near what I had anticipated for a press opening. Those of us who made the trek had a delightful experience. I know that a little south of where we were the Mets were making the Cubs hopes disappear while at the same time, Dr. Hass was explaining how magic creates hope and life as well as transformation, through his stories about magical greats ( Houdini of course) and did some amazing tricks having the audience participate.
As you can see by the picture, Jane participated in one of the first illusions ( I won’t call them tricks, as they are not). In this one, a card was placed on her palm. She thought of a card and as he moved the deck to eliminate cards, and got down to one, it was the card that she had said. Later he did an illusion where everyone in the audience opened up an envelope. The envelope had 7 playing cards, all different. We also had a marker and each of us selected one of these cards to draw on. He then had us turn the cards over and cut and shuffle as he instructed us. We fanned out the cards ( not being able to see the face cards) and one by one, discard a card. With all the mixing and shuffling, we all worked our way til we had one card left, and guess what? It was the one we had written on.
In the second half of the performance he spoke about Houdini and then with the aid of two members of the audience was tied up, legs and hands, and yes, within seconds was untied. Dr. Hass also did some other illusions where we all were part of the magic that took place. Being involved certainly added to the wonder and awe of the evening.
“Magical Life” will continue thru June 23rd with performances as follows:
Fri, May 26:7:30pmRhapsody Theater is located at1125 West Morse Avenue in Chicago ( just East of the Red Line “L” station.
Show Type: Performance Art
They have a great bar with some specialty drinks as well as “mocktails” for the non-drinker. While they do not have a food menu, they do offer some small bites that I am sure you will make disappear.
Tickets starts as low as $25
To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “”Magical Life”
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