“Kayla Drescher: Magic in Heels” reviewed by Julia W. Rath

Somewhat Recommended ** Kayla Drescher took the stage Wednesday night as part of The Chicago Magic Lounge’s “Artist-in-Residence” series. A fusion of comedy, magic, and audience interaction, hers is a largely uninspired performance. Billed as “Magic in Heels”, the heels are a reference to the fact that she is a woman, and her aim is to add a female touch to the field of magic, a largely male province up to now. The show is based on clean and wholesome comedy (a genre that is perfectly fine in my book), but her presentation simply isn’t that funny, and her magic as a whole isn’t captivating enough. Part of it has to do with too much shtick and an act that largely swings from being almost too sweet to being too repetitive. For example, when the gentleman in the first row consistently picked the six of clubs out of the card deck, this bit quickly got stale. As opposed to being amused, there were too many times when I asked myself, “So what?” The bottom line is this: Magic needs to be done well regardless of the gender of the magician, and it has to entertain the whole audience, not just the few people called up to participate or who sit close enough to see the playing cards.

Drescher’s best segment is the pink and green paper heart trick, which is previewed on The Chicago Magic Lounge’s website.* It is really cute and sweet, in keeping with her decidedly feminine approach to doing magic. But her constant references to growing up in a small town in Connecticut don’t play as well. Again, she provides a feminine twist in telling us about how her parents didn’t want her to date. Yet this retreat to 1950s’ morality and stories about men whom we’d never meet seems useless. Instead we would be much better off watching some likely prestidigitatious feat that might have had us scratching our heads.

Perhaps the part that engaged me the most was the mentalism/clairvoyance routine. It was good, but even then, I couldn’t call it exciting; I’ve seen much better. But it provided the backdrop for the evening’s unplanned highlight: when a buzzer suddenly sounded from the bar area and interrupted her act. She handled this random occurrence with enormously good humor and a great ad lib line. The sincerity that broke through made me think that Drescher definitely has the talent and charm to go places, but she ought to rethink her entire act. Her comedy needs to be less structured and more in-the-moment, and she ought to re-examine her approach to stage magic by making it her own—with less reference to her gender and her biography.

Because of my profound disappointment, I planned to slink out at the end undetected. I sincerely wanted to like the show more than I did, in part because women are so rare as professional magicians. My guest believes that the reason a lot of the jokes fell flat on my ears has to do with the fact that the humor of my generation differs from that of Drescher and most of the audience (because we’re considerably older). She argued that each generation has its own sense of humor, having to do with a changing culture and different reference points in our lives. I wasn’t as certain as she was about this. Now having said that, I believe somebody in their twenties would have probably liked the presentation more than we did.

In all, Drescher is a charming person, who has a nice manner and considerable aplomb—and who is destined to have a show that is much better than this one. The hour-long program as it currently stands is much too contrived and not sophisticated enough. She needs to add some serendipity to her banter so that her winning personality can shine through. Over time, maybe she could include some more polished anecdotes to spice up her comedy routine rather than reenact her high school days. Above all, her magic needs more obfuscation, deception, and subterfuge (as opposed to mere coincidence) in order to be successful. On the night I watched the performance, the final segment (which was supposed to be the climax) had a big mistake in it. Oh well, it was live, and mistakes do happen. Just because you’re a magician, doesn’t mean you always get it right.

“Kayla Drescher: Magic in Heels” is currently playing on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. through March 30, 2022, at the Chicago Magic Lounge, 5050 N. Clark Street, in the Andersonville neighborhood.

Single tickets are $45-$50.

For more information about the Chicago run of this show and to purchase tickets, please go to: https://www.chicagomagiclounge.com/purchase-tickets-magic-in-heels
or phone 312-366-4500.

For general information about Kayla Drescher and her other shows, please click on: https://magicinheels.com/.

To learn more about The Chicago Magic Lounge and view a performance calendar, visit: https://www.chicagomagiclounge.com/.

All patrons of The Chicago Magic Lounge must wear masks throughout the performance unless they are actively drinking or eating. Effective January 3, the City of Chicago has issued Public Health Order 2021-2, mandating any individual will be required to show proof of vaccination to dine indoors or enjoy entertainment venues where food or drink are being served. All guests must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 per current CDC recommendations, with the final recommended dose administered no less than 14 days prior. Please visit https://www.chicagomagiclounge.com/health-and-safety-preparedness for the latest update on COVID-19 requirements.

For additional information, please email info@chicagomagiclounge.com.

*You can catch a previous performance of this segment online (via YouTube) on The Chicago Magic Lounge’s website https://www.chicagomagiclounge.com/purchase-tickets-magic-in-heels. In this clip, Drescher partners with famed magician Raymond Teller (from the celebrated Penn and Teller duo). To my mind, the clip is better than the live stage performance, only because it is accompanied by fitting music and a nice introduction and closing.