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Copperfield, Penn & Teller have divergent views of their acts
Friday, December 8, 2000
By ERIK DERR
To David Copperfield, magic is important because it fulfills a basic human need for reverence and mystery. The master showman, perhaps best known for making the Statue of Liberty disappear on prime-time television, asserts magicians are the ones most responsible for cultivating wonder, "a primordial emotion inside us all." PENN & TELLER DAVID COPPERFIELD
Penn & Teller, meanwhile, describe the illusions they do -- and the irreverant commentary that goes with it -- as a stand against the very notions that Copperfield champions. Their act, the "bad boys of magic" say, encourages people to believe in themselves, not in fantasy.
Copperfield and Penn & Teller couldn't be more different, but appearances by both acts in Seattle next week will benefit the local magic scene, fans and magicians say.
"It's always a plus" when big-name acts visit the region, said magician Brian Cook, who heads the Lynnwood Magic Ring, a loose network of magic practitioners and fans who meet monthly at the city's main fire station. Performances by Copperfield and Penn & Teller will increase interest in magic throughout the Puget Sound.
"I have noticed all the (local) magicians are booked solid ... area attendance (at magic events) is up," said Cook, who figures that out of an estimated 100 magicians who live in the Puget Sound area, about 15 perform regularly.
Copperfield and Penn Jillette, the tall, brash, ponytailed half of Penn & Teller, agreed in separate interviews that Seattle has always been a good magic venue -- albeit for different reasons.
To Copperfield, Seattle audiences, "like audiences worldwide who avail themselves to outside stimuli, are as eager as any to suspend disbelief and be moved emotionally."
Penn countered by saying Seattle "is a good city" with intelligent crowds who "get" the humor of the duo's on-stage antics -- and aren't so willing to be lulled by the "flower child" mentality promoted by Copperfield and other more-traditional magicians.
Penn said Seattle audiences respond well to the duo's off-kilter act, which manages to pull images from the darkest recesses of the human psyche. Lots of spurting blood, gunfights and incidental stabbings and slashings are part of the Penn & Teller routine, as is inserting bunny rabbits into shredders (instead of pulling them out of hats).
Penn throws fire, juggles broken glass bottles and maintains a steady stream of banter that treats nothing as sacred. Teller, the shorter, blond and mostly silent partner who claims he can't remember his second name, serves up a steady stream of tricks, too, such as cutting a rose by slashing its shadow and swallowing individual needles and then spitting them out -- all connected by a thread.
Copperfield -- whose ability to turn high-tech into grand mystical spectacle is credited by many with reinvigorating the world of magical entertainment -- promotes his new show, "Unknown Dimension," as his most ambitious to date. During each performance, Copperfield says, he and selected audience members will travel to far-off places on the globe and then return to the theater with proof of their travels.
Some of Copperfield's more memorable stunts include walking through China's Great Wall, levitating across the Grand Canyon, escaping from Alcatraz prison and destroying, then restoring, a million-dollar baseball card in front of its owner, hockey great Wayne Gretzky.
Sheila Lyon, a fortuneteller and co-owner of the Market Magic and Novelty Shop at Pike Place Market, said major shows like these are "a great opportunity to see live magic."
"TV just doesn't do magic justice," she said.
Steffan Soule, artistic director of the Illusionz magic theme center in Issaquah, agreed with several other local magicians who said magic sustains people by keeping them connected to the mysteries of the universe. "We don't know everything," Soule said. "We need to remember the unknowable, the beauty and mystery of life.
"Wonder is a very high feeling," he said, "a very good feeling, and that's why it's important."
Also, added Lyon, "it's the performance and the trick ... it's the connecting of the people."
Steven Minch, whose West Seattle-based Hermetic Press has published and sold throughout the world about a dozen how-to magic books, said the overall popularity of magic has steadily grown during the past decade as more people have accepted magic as a desireable diversion for private and corporate events.
Minch said people are rediscovering "the joy of being fooled when there is a magician on stage ... there are still mysteries in the universe and it's fine to enjoy them, it's fine to be reminded we don't know everything yet."
Teller and his partner rail against the historic images of magic, which he describes as "a Special Olympics trick," with "the magician taking an overblown bow." He said the industry suffers from the negative public perception that magic is "something you drop your kids at."
Teller was actually a kid in high school when he grew disenchanted by "all the patter ... mystic stuff" he remembers was the mainstay of contemporary magic acts. "All of that just seemed to me like a load of crap," he said.
So he rebelled by perfecting his non-verbal performance style. As a result, Teller said proudly, he gained the ability to walk into a college hangout and command so much attention "frat boys would put down their beers, remove their hands from their girlfriends' breasts -- and pay attention."
Now that he and Penn have an increasing amount of the world's attention, said Teller, they hope those who attend their shows see that the ultimate message behind the duo's lunacy is a message to society to constantly examine and question its values.
Copperfield summed up the magical experience with a quote from Albert Einstein: "The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. He who knows it not and can no longer feel amazement is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle."
SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER COMING UP
WHERE: The Moore Theater, 1932 Second Ave.
TICKETS: $25-$40 at Ticketmaster; 206-292-2789
WHERE: The Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St.
TICKETS: $10-$49.50 at Ticketmaster; 206-292-2789 
David Copperfield 
Penn & Teller
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