by mark_c1975 » Jul 25th, '05, 09:54
On Saturday 23rd July I was lucky enough to catch Jerry Sadowitz at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, London.
For those who don't know him, he's one of the top sleight-of-hand and close-up magicians around today. He is also not for the easily offended. Over 18's only I'm afraid.
He had a theme for his show, that card magic was technically difficult, so he started small and worked up to tricks with the whole deck.
The first trick was a 3 card trick, the next a 4 card, then an 8 card. Then he pulled an entire suit from the deck using a different flourish for each card revealed. He then did a number of full-deck tricks involving audience members selecting cards. I'm not going to go into details here... I'll just say go and see him if you get the chance. I sat in the front row, and was watching his hands all night (I can't help myself) He never slipped up on anything. We also got to see his amazing collection of magic wands.
The one thing that disappointed me was that I saw him before the show, and I asked him if he would sign a deck of cards for me. He refused, but that's artistic license I guess.
I saw him when he played the Soho Theatre earlier in the year, and I think that venue suited him better. The Riverside was, I felt, too big for close-up stuff, whereas the Soho was pretty small and intimate. There were about 60 people there, but because of the size, it looked emptier than it was.
All-in-all it was a great show, just over an hour, and I don't think he showed us a quarter of the skills he has. If you don't mind offensive language and jokes, you'll absolutely love the magic!
Cheers,