By MARIA SCIULLO
The well-dressed man entered stage left, pushing a drinks cart and swaying slightly to Glenn Miller’s “Moonlight Serenade.” Nathan Phan then puttered around, made himself a martini, and, with a little help from his friends, elicited gasps from the audience at Liberty Magic.
No spoilers here.
Phan and partner-in-magical-crime Hayden Allcorn know what it’s like to perform feats of seemingly impossible close-up illusion. And they had people laughing for most of the evening in their brand-new show History of Magic: Part 1. There was even some singing, as both have musical theater backgrounds. Add in some stage fights and a death-defying (well, not really) recreation of the classic “bullet catch” bit, and it was a rollicking performance.
The “Moonlight” sketch added a nice, subtle touch. By the time Liberty Magic’s latest excellent offering had finished, this 13-act homage to magicians past and present, big and small, was indeed a history of magic.
Allcorn and Phan, who met backstage at a show, teamed up about five years ago. Their love of magic and “really” nice clothes helped to foster a comedic working relationship. Individually, each has performed in the national spotlight, including “Penn & Teller: Fool Us,” “America’s Got Talent,” “Masters of Illusions” (Phan), “Good Morning America,” and “CBS Morning News” (Allcorn).
Phan is no stranger to Pittsburgh, having appeared at Liberty Magic as a solo artist in 2023.
Based in California, they recently drove across the country to open a six-week run at the intimate Liberty Magic venue. After the April 4 show, Allcorn said they had time to workshop ideas. One of the tricks involving confetti had only been tried once before.
If that was a work in progress, then progress has been impressive.
Part of the duo’s appeal is in self-deprecating humor. The press for “History of Magic: Part 1” bills the show as “5,000 year of magic.”
“2 multi-talented friends.”
“0 social life.”
The family-friendly program loosely skips around history, from a story about 1912 (the Titanic, of course) to a 1953 seance of sorts in Rochester, New York, and a crazy cowboy knock-em-out in Tombstone, Ariz. There were some jokingly bad accents along the way (Allcorn apologized to anyone in the audience who might be French), although Phan, who spent formative years in Scotland, went with his natural diction.
What’s a history lesson without a nod to the future? So the two whipped up a time travel exhibition that, nope, cannot be explained. At least, not by those of us who cannot make a deck of cards suddenly appear in our nothin’-up-our-sleeves hands.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
History of Magic: Part 1 runs Wednesdays through Sundays until May 12. Liberty Magic is a project of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. For tickets: trustarts.org or 412-456-6666.
Photos Courtesy of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
Categories: Arts and Ideas, Reviews
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