Jan Rouven has performed an inestimable number of tricks on the path to Strip-headliner status, but it looks like a majority of his future escapes and sleight-of-hand demonstrations will be in Las Vegas. The German magician first arrived in Vegas in October 2009, performing some of the escapes from his current Tropicana show The New Illusions before awestruck crowds on Fremont Street. His star rose quickly, and by November of last year he was not only a headliner on the south end of the Strip but one of fewer than a handful of marquee magicians branded on billboards and playing the biggest casino-resort rooms. With no plans to leave Las Vegas, Rouven’s ascent can only continue.
“I love it here,” says Rouven. “I’m happy.” And it shows in his performances. Rouven’s effervescence is contagious, and his sly sense of humor—often self-deprecating, playing up his Teutonic-accented pronunciations—contributes to the charm offensive that wins over audiences. But it’s his skill as an illusionist that first garnered attention from veteran magician and production impresario Frank Alfter.
“He was very talented from the very first day,” says Alfter, who met Rouven when he was a teenager and took him to Las Vegas to see Siegfried & Roy in their prime at The Mirage. “I produced other magicians for cruise ships and so, but he always was the best. He’s so likable. I’ve never heard anybody complain about him. This is very rare.”
Siegfried & Roy and Rouven struck up a friendship, and the duo would later give him their blessing in a most benevolent way: They gave Rouven what is now one of the centerpiece illusions of his act, Origami. (Rouven jokes that what he really wanted was a big cat for his act.) Other illusions are more death defying and elaborate, including the Drill of Death, Puzzle of Life, a classic water tank escape and a double levitation. The latter is one of Rouven’s favorites. “I like the levitation scene with the dance,” he says. “Music has been written for this to match the dance part of it. That’s a nice scene. It has everything in it, and it’s one of my favorites.”
Dance is an important element in Rouven’s show, with seven dancers occupying the audience’s attention during transitions between illusions. Costume changes are numerous, and when Rouven isn’t barely escaping demise by sharpened blades or making audience members nervous during a trick that involves empty paper bags and a knife, he’s dematerializing onstage only to appear seconds later in another part of the 1,060-seat Tropicana Theater.
Rouven has clearly settled comfortably into his new environment, very much the entertainer and very generous. He invites the audience to stick around—most people do—and stays until everyone has been greeted, every souvenir autographed. He wants new fans to come back, and they do, seated beside people from Europe who have known about Rouven for years. Guest by guest, Rouven is climbing to the summit of magic mountain, where he plans to stay for a long time. “In my opinion he’s the future of magic in Vegas,” says Alfter.
Tropicana 6 p.m. Wed.-Mon., $59-$99 plus tax and fee, children 5 and under free with adult ticket purchase (one child per adult). 800.829.9034
