The Magic Show

Have seen the original production and loved the score, imagine my delight at finding "The Magic Show" at my local DVD store. What a waste of money! Although the story is essentially the same, the show that is on this DVD is a poor substitute. Stephen Schwartz, what were you thinking? Solid Silver Platform Shoes, West End Avenue, and Sweet, Sweet, Sweet were all eliminated. Charmin's Lament was rewritten to be an interminably wretched number. Anita Morris was barely in the show. Mostly notably missing was David Ogden Stiers, replaced by someone who resembled Snidely Whiplash on drugs. Save your money!

If you have fond memories of the Broadway show or adored the original score, please do yourself a favor and do not buy the DVD that is available. Do not spoil your memories.

West End Avenue is gone, the Goldfarb Variations are gone, Charmin's Lament has been changed out of all recognition.

The actor who plays Van Zyskind is adequate, I guess. Didi Conn (who I love, btw) is fine, although I don't think her voice really handles Lion Tamer too well. Anita Morris is great, but her performance has been hamstrung by the changes to her character. Doug, well, Doug Henning was a terrific magician...the inspiration of many performance magicians who followed...and it's wonderful to see him perform.

And, if all you want is his magic and not the magic of the original stage production and you don't care that they left in only two songs worth having (Lion Tamer and Up to His Old Tricks (although not arranged as well)), go ahead and buy it...if you can find it cheap.

The original Broadway production starring Henning and Morris ran nearly 2,000p., so this filming of a later (distinctly lesser) production is well worth a look, and OUGHT to be available on VHS. The broadcast version appeared to cut one major song ("Lion Tamer") that I trust was filmed, but over all between the magic and the music and a very funny book, this is one of the rare "cult" films that bears repeated viewings. Especially now that the original Broadway cast album is out on CD, here's hoping people get another chance to see the movie.

I was there when this was filmed before a live audience in the Autumn of 1980. It wasn't really a stage production, it was all staged for the cameras. They had to pause every ten minutes to reload the film. There were three stationary cameras in the house, and one "panglide" camera that followed the actors around on stage. The music was all pre-recorded. At the time, all we heard were the "rythm" tracks -- the strings and horns etc were added in post-production. All of the "illusions" were shot live. However, some of the songs and dialogue were done in additional takes without an audience. Incidentally, the animal wranglers weren't sure what size of elephant the producers wanted, so they delivered three! The film was originally intended for cinemas, but was never released. It was also intended to have a full stereo soundtrack (the audio was recorded on 48 track tape), not the fake stereo that's on the DVD. I believe it may also have been intended to have a wider aspect ratio. As for the changes in the book and score from the Broadway show, composer Stephen Schwartz said he realised that THE MAGIC SHOW was basically a children's musical. I suspect that the cutting of "West End Avenue" reflects that. Incidentally, the music arranger. Eric Robertson, worked on "Spellbound" -- the Toronto show with music by Howard Shore, book by David Cronenberg and produced by Ivan Reitman -- that evolved into "The Magic Show".

I caught this on TV a few days ago, and as a long time magic fan, had to watch. Unfortunately, I found it painfully dated and uninteresting. Though apparently this "plot" was applied to a successful stage show Mr. Henning had done as well, it was exceedingly annoying and tiresome. And it was a musical, something that rarely works well, and certainly didn't here. And magic acts just don't work in film format.

What is spectacular and interesting in person (or arguably, live TV) feels like just another movie effect when placed in a film, which is unfortunate, because really the only reason to WATCH this is all the signature tricks performed in it. It takes all the mystery out of it.

It's sad that this is the only example of Mr. Henning's work available, because it sucks a lot of the life out of it. Doug's personality does shine, but I cannot imagine his bare-faced wonder and colourfulness would interest modern audiences. Even wanting to like and enjoy this movie, I just couldn't watch most of it.