Letting Routines Die

Sometimes it’s okay to let a routine die.

By ‘die” I mean to stop doing it.

We magicians often think that because we spent an ungodly amount of money on a prop, we MUST use it in our shows.

Or if we’ve spent months mastering an intricate sleight-of-hand routine, we MUST use it in our shows.

Years ago, I used to open all of my shows with a three-dove act. To say it was popular is an understatement.

It was perfect, playing just as well for birthday parties in living rooms as a gymnasium for a school audience.

But as I started traveling more and doing more school shows, I dropped the bird act.

They didn’t offer any kind of educational content, and it wasn’t fair to ask my wife to take care of them if I was on the road for days at a time.

So I started looking for new openers.

One I tried was a simple vanishing cane to streamer I learned from a McBride video. That was okay, but I wanted something that went a little longer.

I settled on billiard balls after seeing my friend Rodney perform his routine at a show.

Years earlier, my friend Ted dazzled me with his elegant and beautiful billiard ball routine.

So I worked on a routine for months. It was good, really good, culminating with the production of a six-foot dragon silk.

I trotted it out to audiences literally nationwide, as I was doing a lot of flying in those days.

I thought it was the perfect opener. It packed small and played big – pick your cliché.

But audiences' reactions were tepid at best.

Sometimes I’d get great reactions, usually from younger audiences. But the older kids? They couldn’t care less.

I pushed on, making little tweaks as I went, determined to ‘make’ it work.

I finally pulled the plug on the patient about three months after I introduced it.

I’d left routines behind before, but this one was particularly painful because I’d devoted so much time to it.

As magicians, we assume what we do will be appealing to our audiences no matter what. It’s magic, we reason. How could it not resonate with an audience?

It doesn’t work that way in the real world. Most people don’t love magic for the sake of magic.

They want to be entertained, first and foremost.

To look at it another way, consider the public rejection of high-profile action films over the last five years.

Movies like Battleship, Black Adam, and countless others had amazing special effects, good-looking stars, and stories based on popular IP.

Yet they flopped hard because the stories weren’t there.

I love magic, but unless there is a good theme, hook, script, etc., good magic is nothing more than the equivalent of watching Dwayne Johnson smash stuff with his hands.

Good effects but no reason to get emotionally involved.

So, dear reader, how do you get people to care about your magic?

Once again, it comes down to my mantra, one I go back to over and over.

Know your audience.

Understand the audience you’re standing before. Their general age levels, likes, dislikes, and (most importantly) the problem you are there to solve.

Birthdays? Make the birthday child happy and make the parents look good for hiring you.

Schools? Deliver sound educational concepts paired with age-appropriate magic.

Corporate holiday parties? Engaging content that makes the one who hired you look good and involves the audience.

And on and on.

Here’s the thing with live entertainment: It’s a two-way street.

As entertainers, we have the duty to put on the best show we can for our audiences.

Yet the audiences have every right to watch what we are doing, shrug their shoulders, and say, “Nope.”

For many fledgling magicians, this is a cold, hard truth. Even seasoned pros encounter this, especially when breaking into a brand-new market.

That’s why live entertainment isn’t the path for some people. I’ve heard too many magicians blame their audiences.

“Bad audience,” they claim. Some old-timers scoff at this, claiming there are never bad audiences, only bad magicians.

I never bought that as absolute truth. I think the reality is more nuanced.

If an audience rejects a new routine, the first thing I do is tweak it to make it better.

Can the story/routine be improved? Is my handling off? Did I ‘flash” something I wasn’t supposed to flash?

I remember breaking in my Floating Table nearly 20 years ago. Six performances in and the thing wasn’t getting a reaction.

Then, I added a pause. I focused my attention (and the audience’s attention) on the table for several seconds while nothing happened.

This built tension and hyper-focused the audience on what was (eventually) going to happen.

Only then did I make the table rise. I also added a bit of acting – as the table rose, I acted surprised myself.

I didn’t overdo this reaction, just let my jaw drop and my eyes widen slightly.

That’s all it took. From that moment on, the Floating Table was one of my most reliable go-to closers.

But sometimes my hard work goes nowhere.

RIP, billiard balls routine.

Be prepared to let routines go, and you’ll be better serving your audiences.

Have a great week!

--Cris

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