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Abracadabra!

By Max Woodworth
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Aug 09, 2002, Page 17

A translator speaks on behalf of magician David Copperfield at a press conference announcing his upcoming Taipei shows running from tonight to Aug. 18. PHOTO: MAX WOODWORTH, TAIPEI TIMES

It's been 15 years since David Copperfield's last performance in Taipei and the magic still remains, so to speak, as the available tickets for his upcoming shows rapidly disappear. Over the next two weekends he's going to make thousands of people suspend their belief in reality by proving that he's the greatest magician of our time.

Magic is perhaps the wrong word for what Copperfield does, though. Strictly defined, magic is to control events by supernatural power and he doesn't quite do that. By his own admission at a press conference on Wednesday, he's a master of "illusion and sleight of hand." For laypeople, however, the illusions he performs are so well choreographed and executed that they may as well be called magic.

His show, Portal, is also a lot more than a collection of tricks. As Copperfield describes them, the illusions make up an inspirational performance that opens the audience's mind to grander imaginary realms. "A portal is for people's dreams. They can take their idea of a perfect place and make it a reality," Copperfield said.

So far, the response to Portal has been overwhelming. According to the show's organizers, one member of the audience in China, where Copperfield recently wound up a four-city, 30-performance tour was overheard exiting the venue saying, "I didn't eat meat for three months [to see the show], but it was worth it." Also present at one of the shows in China was a group of deeply skeptical Taoist spiritualists who claimed to possess a range of supernatural powers. After seeing the show, they too were shocked by what they saw and reluctantly admitted that Copperfield was, indeed, the master of illusion.

Part of what makes Copperfield's performances so memorable is his direct engagement of the audience. "I don't perform tricks. To say `tricks' makes it sound like I'm smarter than the audience. I'm not trying to trick anyone. Instead, I try to involve the audience at every step of the way," he said.

Even though he includes members of the audience in his acts, no one so far has come out to expose the secrets of his magic.

"None of the staff or the participants are ever aware of the entire workings of an act. They may know parts, but never all," he said. "But the point isn't to try to solve the riddle. It's more fun to let the mystery remain." Some of his most famous acts in the past have included walking through the Great Wall of China and making the Statue of Liberty disappear. These are just two of his acts, however. He's been performing professionally since he was 12 and has logged thousands of performances all over the world, including a run on Broadway that shattered weekly ticket-sales records and telecasts that have reached an estimated audience of three billion.

This kind of dedication and fame has earned Copperfield a long list of distinctions to show that he's elevated the standard of his work more than anyone else in the field. He's been awarded an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from Fordham University, was knighted Chevalier of Arts and Letters by the French Government, and holds a Living Legend medal from the US Library of Congress, to name just a few of his awards.

But challengers are nipping at his heels. One unnamed pretender to the throne in the realm of magic who slipped into the press conference on Wednesday noted Copperfield's Statue of Liberty act and challenged him to vanish the Taipei 101 skyscraper, which will be the tallest building in the world for a few months when it's completed.

Copperfield declined with a whisk of his hand and summarized his take on his art form.

"I'm not really interested in doing that type of act again. The act wouldn't be improved by making a bigger building disappear. Improvement is when you come up with something entirely new and develop a style that is unique and personal." Portal culminates in an act that makes 13 members of the audience disappear as a group and then reappear in unexpected locations. There's also a section that involves Copperfield's grandfather, but of course he wasn't letting on to what it involves. All he said was that it worked in Beijing.

Performance Notes

What: David Copperfield's "Portal"

When: Tonight, 8pm; Tomorrow, 1pm, 4:30pm, 8pm; Sunday, 1pm, 4:30pm, 8pm; Aug. 16, 8pm; Aug. 17, 4pm, 8pm, Aug. 18, 1pm, 4:30pm.

Tickets: NT$1,200, NT$2,000, NT$3,000, NT$4,000

Where: Linkou Gymnasium, 250 Wenhua Rd., Gueishan Township, Taoyuan County (桃園縣龜山鄉文化路250號)

Free shuttle bus: Call (02) 2720-8724 to make reservations. Buses leave from Taipei City Hall MRT Station and Yuanshan MRT Station one hour and a half before performance time
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