David Copperfield, the master magician and illustrious illusionist, has defied gravity, escaped from Alcatraz, walked through the Great Wall of China, and plunged over Niagara Falls unscathed. His productions are as slick as his hair, and his tongue is as quick as his hands. But now the champion of vanishing acts, who has made the Statue of Liberty, a jet plane, and a string of gorgeous girlfriends disappear, is taking on the role of the generous genie. In his latest production, "An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion," which comes to the Wang Theatre next weekend, he plans to astound audience members by making their dreams come true.
Forget Freudian dream analysis, subconscious yearnings, and latent desires realized only in sleep. According to Copperfield, people dream about hot cars, great vacations, and having lots of money. "No one wakes up in the morning and dreams about cutting someone in half," he observes over the phone from Melbourne, Florida. "But people do dream about winning the lottery. People do dream about owning their own dream car. People do dream about traveling around the world. These are all things that take place in my show."
But what if, say, last night you dreamed you played for the Sixers: you could jump from half court, float across the floor above the heads of all your opponents, and drain a three while Allen Iverson and 10,000 fans cheered you on? Unfortunately, says Copperfield, since "an illusion that might last three minutes takes about two years" to develop, he can’t pull just any dream out of a hat. But if you find yourself dreaming about a new Hummer, or those feisty little Audi TT’s, you’re on. "We make someone’s dream car appear. It’s pretty spectacular stuff."
Inspiration for these illusions, however, isn’t just what he thinks will get an audience going. "Usually it’s more noble. Usually it’s from my heart or from something I’ve dreamed about or that I like." The ideas, he adds, "usually come from a real place." The lottery illusion, for example, in which the illusionist "shows how it’s possible to win the lottery," is based on his grandfather’s dream of winning the Irish Sweepstakes.
Money does seem to play a big role in Copperfield’s show. When asked the difference between a magician and an illusionist, he quips, "If you call yourself an illusionist, you get paid 20 percent more." He is, according to his press material, "the seventh-highest paid entertainer in the world" (no word on #1 through #6). Over the past decade, he’s grossed more than $1 billion. And according to his official Web site, his shows have sold more tickets and grossed more money per week than The Lion King, The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, and Chicago during their best weeks.
Copperfield competes with both theater and film, and he sees direct parallels between those art forms and his own. "Steven Spielberg is an illusionist. George Lucas is an illusionist. Creating something out of your imagination that doesn’t really exist is being an illusionist. Painters, poets, all these people are illusionists. Magic has to come from a pure place, from a very unplugged place. I have sections of my show that are the unplugged sections, the a cappella sections, unencumbered with equipment. Then, of course, there’s the big, spectacular stuff. So there’s something for everybody."
The demand for being hornswoggled is high these days — Copperfield’s brand of chicanery continues to sell out theaters and attract millions of fans worldwide. And for those who think it’s all a bunch of hogwash? "They’re right, but a transformed skeptic is the best dénouement."
David Copperfield brings his "An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion" to the Wang Theatre, 270 Tremont Street in the Theater District, next Friday, February 14, at 8:30 p.m. and Saturday, February 15, at 11:30 a.m., 2:30, 5:30, and 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $39.74 to $64.75; call (800) 447-7400.
