The master magicians of Las Vegas are naturally secretive about their work. They would likely prefer not too many details be revealed about their performances. One aspect David Copperfield probably doesn’t mind revealing involves making audience members’ mobile phones disappear inside darkly colored wooden boxes affixed to the tabletops inside his eponymous theater at MGM Grand Las Vegas. Foreshadowing the rest of his performance without spoilers can be tricky.
Copperfield’s current show is about possibilities and poignancy, magical moments and grand illusions. He clearly loves cars, from gleaming red Ferraris to beautifully maintained classic models, and has the power to make them appear, disappear and levitate. His psychic abilities are sharp as ever and his methods of demonstrating them are both arcane and inimitable. He literally travels back in time after telling a story about an important figure from his past and at one point shares the stage with a charismatic companion who is out of this world.
Having his show crescendo with a close encounter of the third kind is the only way Copperfield can top himself after a career that includes making the Statue of Liberty vanish, walking through the Great Wall of China and escaping from Alcatraz. There’s a fantasy element for the Dungeons & Dragons demographic as well. It’s all tied together by the casual self-assuredness that’s characterized Copperfield’s performances since he established himself as an icon of magic in the ’70s.
Copperfield is part of magic history now, as well as one of its most astute historians. Where 19th century theatrical illusionist forefather Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin brought magic to the masses and gave a command performance for Queen Victoria, Copperfield reached mass 20th century television audiences and gave a command performance for President Reagan. Like Harry Houdini, he performed the most widely publicized illusions and stunts of his time.
With great magical powers came great responsibility, so it was natural for Copperfield to collect archives of past masters of the conjuring arts and move them into a private museum somewhere in the Las Vegas Valley, maintained for researchers and occasional interested parties. His collection of islands in the Caribbean contains what he claims is an authentic fountain of youth, where leaves fallen from trees turn green again.
The secret fountain may explain why Copperfield looks several decades younger than he is. It’s been more than 40 years since he starred as the mysterious magician who enchanted Jamie Lee Curtis in cult slasher film Terror Train, nearly 45 years since his first The Magic of David Copperfield television special and almost a half century since, fresh out of high school, he was cast as the lead in theatrical comedy The Magic Man.
Now, like Robert-Houdin, he has his own theater. A year ago, his fascinating book, David Copperfield’s History of Magic, was published. He is a living legend of magic, at the height of his powers, with a secret hand sign he shares with fans that symbolizes the passion behind his performances.
MGM Grand, 702.891.1111
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