Champions of Magic performs Sunday and Monday at Vilar

Champions of Magic ushers in a new wave of contemporary illusionists with high-energy showmanship, innovative magic and signature humor for two evening shows at the Vilar Performing Arts Center Sunday and Monday.

While it’s one thing to watch magic acts on television or online, it’s a whole other mind-blowing experience to watch it live on stage and try to figure out the “trick” when everything is exposed. The family-friendly show is currently the world’s top touring magic show. It includes everything from levitating an audience member to ensemble magic, in which all of the artists perform a grand illusion.

“Liberty Larsen does magic right in the middle of the audience,” said illusionist Fernando Velasco. “She’s a bit of mentalist, but she’s a very playful character, and her magic is very artistic.”

The stakes rise as Velasco attempts to escape from a straightjacket underneath huge “teeth” that clamp down upon him in exactly 60 seconds if he doesn’t. Oh, and they’re lit on fire.

Magic initially captivated Velasco as a child, when his dad worked at the Magic Castle in Los Angeles, introducing his son to magicians. Champions of Magic discovered him in 2018 at age 20, when the company first came to the United States and saw his escape act.

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Unlike other magic shows, where one illusionist does an act, then another takes the stage, and so on, Champions of Magic intertwines the artists throughout the entire show.

“We all collaborate. We’re the only actual team of magicians working together,” he said. “Champions is incredibly well produced with hundreds of moving LED walls of light, so it’s almost like being in an immersive TV experience, but, at the same time, it’s just an extra in a magic show filled with pyrotechnics. Then, the show at the Vilar is only a 500-seat theater, which means it seems like a very, very intimate experience. Normally, we perform in 3,000-seat venues, so to go from 3,000 seats to 500, it becomes a very, very intimate show.”

The humor also makes it fun, he said.

“We really don’t take ourselves too seriously. Normally, a lot of magicians are very serious and mysterious, and we are just extremely playful,” he said. “You never know what to expect. There’s a number of rug-pull moments in the show.”

In addition, the magicians share personal stories.

“A trick can only be so good, but when there’s meaning behind it … we can actually touch people at a deeper level,” he said, adding that audience members often tell him after the show how a story resonated with them.

Of course, involving various audience members makes each show unique. But no matter how each show differs, one thing remains constant, and that’s the ability of magic to transport people to another world, where the “impossible” becomes possible.