A Review of The Illusionists on Broadway
by Waverly W., 8 years old, and Matthew R., 7 years old
Waverly here! Last night should have been a regular old boring school night but instead it was amazing! That’s because Matthew and I got to go see The Illusionists: Turn of the Century on Broadway at the fancy Palace Theater. We have both been to lots of shows, but none of them have ever been like this one!
When we got there, some old-fashioned type of music was playing that was from before my mom was even born! On the stage there were some big old suitcases and something called a phonograph that my mom said was how people used to listen to music. It was very mysterious. Before the show started I looked around and saw lots of kids in the audience and we decided to ask one of them a question. That’s when we met Nyla S., a 7 year old. We asked her if she believed in magic. “Yeah! I came here last year and had so much fun that I came back again this year for more!” We were happy to have that important information from a kid just like us! Here we are with her (and I love her shirt!):
So when the announcer said that everyone had to shut their phones because, after all…there were no cell phones in 1903, we weren’t scared that the show was just for old people! When we stood up at the beginning and had our minds read, we knew this show was going to be totally awesome!
I have seen magic shows but never anything like this where there are so many different people doing so many different things. Literally every second there was somebody doing something really cool. I don’t even know where to start!! Cool card tricks, things disappearing and people appearing, a lady getting sawed in half, a dancing moon, a magic puppet, a bed of nail – yes, I said nail, not nails, Matthew had a really hard time watching The Daredevil doing this:
And that’s not all he did! Let’s just say there was fire, handcuffs, and a lot of nail biting!!
Every time one of The Illusionists finished up one cool trick, there would be another one on a different part of the stage right after it. And guess what? I got picked to go up on the stage in front of all those people to do tricks with a bird! I was nervous but also really excited.
So, who are The Illusionists? They are a group of nine people that each have different types of talents and do different things that come from old-time magic shows of the past. There’s The Charlatan – he is the one I went onstage with, The Eccentric, The Daredevil, The Showman, The Conjuress, The Grand Carlini, The Immortal…and my favorites, The Clairvoyants. 
Let me talk about The Clairvoyants for a minute. The lady was blindfolded and guessed what the man was holding when he went out into the audience – he even held my brush and she said to him, “It’s something spiky — it’s something you never use, a hairbrush!” I guarantee you that we did not meet them beforehand and I watched the whole thing happen right next to me and he had his back turned away from her and did not do anything to let her know! That’s not all. They threw a ball into the audience and the man that caught it took out a dollar….and she knew the serial numbers on that dollar! 
They did so many other amazing things but you have to see it for yourself! Here is one more really cool thing they did – during intermission, the lady was typing something on the stage. When the show started again, she put it in a little cage that got lifted up and hung by the ceiling. It didn’t move and nobody touched it….then towards the end of the show, they took the letter down and it had all the stuff that happened in the show with people chosen from the audience on it. So she wrote what happened before it happened!!
Matthew here! This show was sooooo cool! I couldn’t stop talking about it to my parents and brothers when I got home. If you don’t believe in magic, take one look at this show. Maybe you will disagree but you probably won’t! This magic was real. I loved the whole show but my favorite part was the ending where a lady floated up to the ceiling right before our eyes! I will never forget that. 
I will never forget that. After the show I asked audience members what they liked best. Isabella liked The Clairvoyants and said “They know everything! You don’t know how they do it!” Mark liked The Charlatan and thought he was really funny and said that Waverly was great up there! Angela liked The Grand Carlini and his cute and magical little puppet. The great thing about this show is that there are so many different things going on and people who like different things will each have different favorite parts. If you go with your whole family you will all be happy!
Back to Waverly! So how do you turn a regular boring night into a magical, mysterious, night of fun? That’s easy! Just ask your parents to get tickets to see The Illusionists on Broadway. How do you make someone float in the air, guess how many jelly beans were poured into a cup, or make people appear and disappear? I haven’t figured that out yet and probably never will! I guess only The Illusionists know. It’s probably just good old-fashioned magic….
Poof! It’s The Mom here! What a fabulous tribute to the magicians and illusionists of the past this was. I got chills at the end when Rick Thomas, “The Immortal,” spoke about respecting those who came before us and told us to follow our dreams and make them a reality. That is, of course, what Waverly and I are doing with kidsnewsnyc.com – a little site that started with a tiny little idea and a lot of determination to make it become real. We all had a fabulous time at The Illusionists: Turn of the Century- it’s truly an amazing and mystifying show! Definitely get tickets before they disappear – it’s a limited engagement. Oh, and I’m glad that my scarf that “disappeared” at the beginning of the show magically reappeared in my pocket as we were leaving! Not sure which one of them was responsible for that, but thank you! 🙂
Theillusionistslive.com @theillusionistslive
