I believe that street magician who appear in magic shows, repeat the same trick over all day long to different audiences and pick the best reaction for their needs.
A simple episode can sometimes take a week to produce so their public are far from a reference to the country or towns they represent. They most likely represent the image the show want you to see.
As for crowd reactions, I'm always amazed no matter they applause yell or just shut it down till you finish. I partly understand why but still some people will react different because of their own life experiences. I had read somewhere that vanish often cause breath stopping reactions, while apparition bring natural applause.
It all make sense if you apply it in relations with life. Nobody will ever be happy to lose something, while if you win something nice for a minimum work you will be more then happy.
Also there is the whole concept of brainstorms, how can someone accordingly react to something if he still dont understand what happend?
Astonishment has many forms of reaction from laugh to fear you can explore many kind of emotions and everytime you should get different reactions. That is probably why magic is an art in itself because it does transmit different emotions.
I dont think i prefer one to the other, i just like when i get the reactions im looking for. Silences are nice tho
