Take a trip to the clubs of Tokyo with a visit to the Maho Magic Bar. This is a place where magicians and sleight-of-hand specialists rule the roost with tricks that will leave you gasping at the unbelievable acts being conducted right in front of your eyes. With five different Japanese magicians weaving their way around the packed tables, you’ll never see the same trick twice, and with such a wide variety of performers, you’ll never get bored of the different styles of magic they create.
Kaori started off our magical journey, as the folks at our table were wowed with kawaii (cute) illusions and seemingly simple card tricks that, no matter how hard we concentrated, we couldn’t figure out. Shirayuri was up next and brought a sense of excitement to his performance, remarkably spinning cards around his body with ease, while also managing to catch the sweet smell of berries out of thin air. It was then that the Maho Magic Bar turned into a Japanese game show, as attendees paid for personal surprise magic tricks ($10 each) which were hilariously played out in front of the whole audience. Even seedoeatreview buddy Giulia got in on the fun with a bizarre illusion conducted by Sarito, which involved a stuffed panda, a knife, and a roll of electrical tape (you’ll have to order the ‘Panda Surprise’ to find out what it’s all about). In a fast-paste 60 minutes, the chaos and insanity of the magic bar never let up as magicians Santa, Sarito, and ringmaster Sho all provided joyous entertainment to our table. The only negative was how unbelievably loud it was inside the darkly lit room. It really made it hard to hear what the magicians were saying, and a lot of the tricks went over our heads, as we were forced to lean in and focus on their hand gestures to understand what the illusion objective was.
Still, with delicious cocktails made by master mixologist Jin Nakamura, and a one-hour party atmosphere throughout the entirety of the show, the Maho Magic Bar is one of the most chaotically enjoyable shows you see at this year’s fringe. Enjoy!
FOUR STARS