MANILA, Philippines - Is
he for real? Or is he a con job? Filipinos can decide for themselves when the
world’s most intriguing magician hits Manila for a one-night-only live show.
Magician David Blaine, who has been wowing and spooking audiences worldwide
with his trailblazing brand of magic for almost two decades, is set to cast a
spell on Philippine audiences in a 90-minute live show on Sept. 12 at the
Araneta Coliseum, accord ing to promoter Renen de Guia of Ovation
Productions.
This is not an entirely new venture into the
world of magic by Ovation Productions, having promoted another popular magician
also by the name of David in Manila in 1989 — David Copperfield.
Dubbed Real or Magic,
Blaine’s first-ever show in the Philippines will feature a slew of tricks that
have blown the minds of anyone who has ever seen videos of his “street magic”
performances. The 41-year-old magician’s Manila stopover is part of his first
Asian tour.
The show’s title
references Blaine’s TV special last year in which he performed inexplicable
tricks to the stupefaction of celebrities such as Will Smith, Kanye West, Ricky
Gervais, Katy Perry and Harrison Ford.
Born
in New York to Puerto Rican-Italian and Russian parents, Blaine became an
overnight success at 24 when he debuted his Street Magic in 1997. The show, in
which he performed minimal yet enigmatic tricks for impromptu audiences on the
street, was a success.
Eschewing the glitzy
Vegas-style showmanship of magicians like Copperfield, Blaine’s less-is-more
approach, lazy Brooklyn drawl and ultra-cool manner — not to mention his dark,
brooding looks — won him a great league of fans across the world who just can’t
seem to believe what they see.
Later, Blaine expanded his magical repertoire by
featuring himself in a series of spectacularly staged death-defying endurance
performances, some of which were inspired by his idol Harry Houdini. The
endurance performances have seen Blaine: Sealed in a coffin-like box at the
bottom of a three-ton tank of water for a week, encased in ice for 63 hours,
standing unsecured on top of a 30-meter high narrow pillar for 53 hours and
dangled in a plastic cube above the Thames for 44 days with only water to
sustain him. He even managed to break a Guinness World Record in 2008 live on
The Oprah Winfrey Show when he held his breath underwater for 17 minutes and 44
seconds — the record has since been broken. Meanwhile, the last spectacle saw
him being zapped by a million volts of electricity produced by eight Tesla coil
towers for 72 hours.
While
the magician who’s been called our generation’s greatest probably won’t
replicate such endurance tests for his live show, audiences can be assured that
they’ll be feted to other head-scratching Blaine specialties — from card tricks
to pushing needles through his arm to twisting off a chicken’s head and putting
it back on. But is it magic? Is it real? You decide.
David Blaine: Real or
Magic Live in Manila on Sept. 12 at the Araneta Coliseum is presented by
Ovation Productions in cooperation with AXN, The Philippine STAR, Manila
Bulletin, Business World, ABS-CBN, MYX, Philstar.com, Inquirer.net,
WhenInManila.com, Rappler.com, Manila Concert Scene,
Philippine Concerts, SoundCheckManila, PEP.ph, 105.1 Crossover, 96.3 EasyRock,
Retro 105.9, Monster Radio RX 93.1, and Mellow 947. Tickets prices are P6,500,
P5,500, P4,500, P3,500, P2,000 and P1,000. They are available at Ticketnet
outlets or online via www.ticketnet.com.ph
or call 911-5555.)
