There was a boy, a little shy and sad of eye, who became enchanted with illusion, then wandered very far over land and sea telling stories through magic, refining his craft. Now David Copperfield reigns at the pinnacle of the Entertainment Capital of the World, closely encountering spacecraft and alien life within the MGM Grand, traveling through time and conjuring an ancient carnivore for sold-out audiences inside his 1,800-square-foot theater, escaping and dematerializing at will onstage. He’s a storyteller and inspirational speaker who implores audiences to “live the impossible” while living out his dreams onstage.
Copperfield’s has arguably been the most dominant solo magic act of the last four decades. A prodigy, he taught magic at New York University while still in high school and drew inspiration from Broadway musicals. He appeared as the lead in The Magic Man in Chicago before producing his own show in Honolulu, and entered his 20s by being introduced to a nationwide audience as host of 1977 television special The Magic of ABC.
Doug Henning of Broadway’s The Magic Show was the most well-known illusionist at the time, but Copperfield’s popularity quickly eclipsed that of the other magician. Dark-haired and dark-eyed, Copperfield conveyed an air of mystery and became the face of magic for many as he starred in a series of The Magic of David Copperfield specials for CBS throughout the ’80s and into the ’90s. He made a Learjet disappear, made the Statue of Liberty vanish then reappear, walked through the Great Wall of China, plunged over Niagara Falls and got supermodel Claudia Schiffer to say yes to a marriage proposal.
While that engagement ended with the ’90s, another opened up as the new millennium began when MGM Grand invited Copperfield to be a regular headliner. He quickly became one of the top draws on the Strip and was able to indulge his passion for pushing the envelope like never before. “I was always looking to take magic and bring it further than where it had been before,” he recently told GQ.
Each of his illusions takes an average of two years to go from sketch to stage. He has a museum in Las Vegas where he maintains 23 hours’ worth of material, and is always thinking about the next step, the next innovation of technology and magic. A current illusion he performs with audience participation looks like something da Vinci could have designed. A visiting alien has an attack of flatulence as the scent of root beer wafts through the audience, then gets a ride home.
Copperfield goes retro as well, incorporating a classic car into a classic trick, drawing on lyrics from Nat King Cole’s “Nature Boy” and video that looks like ’60s home movie footage for a segment that pays tribute to his father. He’s a true believer in the power of magic, and in the message in the last two lines of “Nature Boy” that Cole delivers in his smoky baritone: “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn/ Is just to love and be loved in return.”
MGM Grand, 7 & 9:30 p.m. Sun.-Fri., 4, 7 & 9:30 p.m. Sat., additional 4 p.m. show Nov. 27-29 & Dec. 1, starting at $71.37 plus tax and fee, $239 meet-and-greet VIP package available. 866.740.7711
