The more things change, the more they stay the same for eccentric tricksters Penn & Teller. A Sunday evening show in late January at Penn & Teller Theater inside the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino finds Penn Jillette jamming on upright bass with virtuoso pianist Mike Jones, who is about to observe his 20th year with the act. They play a snatch of Violent Femmes’ “Blister in the Sun” before Penn departs, leaving “the jazz demon” to dazzle with solo renditions of Fats Domino’s “I’m Walkin’” and Duke Ellington’s “Caravan” and “Take the A Train.” A camera captures his astonishing technique in close-up for the big screens above the stage.
It’s the traditional Show before the Show, preceding the 9 p.m.-sharp start time, when the magicians take the stage together. Penn cuts through the applause with his booming voice. “We are so, so happy to be here tonight,” he says as Teller nods along. “We’ve said some version of that onstage over 12,000 times, but tonight we really mean it!”
As Penn explains, the duo and their support team went 421 days without doing their headline show. As tonight’s new inventions indicate, they put their time to good use. The new tricks are inspired, bringing traditional elements such as decks of cards, disappearances and fire into new realms. Rather than eliminate audience participation, Penn & Teller adjusted and adapted, and the show flows as smoothly as ever.
Penn’s elucidations on magic-related subjects such as the misappropriation of the term “misdirection” and sideshows seem more engrossing than previously. Gratitude toward the crew is profusely expressed. Teller is poetry in motion, indicating back surgeries have been successful enough to allow him to continue to work at the craft he loves. He still has a way with goldfish that causes the audience to collectively respond with an involuntary “Ahhhhh!”
If there is one show to start with to break the pandemic blues, this is it. Nine of the tricks in the current set are brand new. It’s easier to witness the threading of a ribbon through doughnuts than to explain what’s magical about it, and any animals suddenly appearing onstage are too terrified of the audience to leave the stage. “Lies, cheats, swindles, rip-offs,” says Penn. “That is what we do.”
They’ve just signed on for a 10th season of Penn & Teller: Fool Us, for which the theater does double-duty as a television show set. A magician named Jandro is an integral part of one trick, fulfilling a Fool Us promise to feature winners from the show. It’s fast-paced, and at times intimate-feeling due to Penn’s heartfelt reminisces of his exposure to magic acts and other illusory endeavors. Penn & Teller are the ultimate sideshow act, passing on the senses of wonder they were inoculated with at young ages and performing with apparently endless wells of ingenuity.
“Why do we do it?” asks Penn rhetorically at some point during tonight’s show. “Because this is our tent.”
Rio, 702.777.2782
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