Weddings & Magic
Imagine a pack of playing cards floating in front of you. No, seriously; go with me on this. In your imagination, grab the pack, open it up, and take the cards out. Now shuffle them; give those cards a good mix. In your mind, spread the cards out face down. Now reach into your imaginary deck and remove a single playing card. Keep it face down so I can’t see it. On the count of 3, you’re going to peek at it so that you know what it is; that is, look at the card you chose in your imagination. It can be any card you want, but no Jokers. Don’t say it aloud; just look at the card and decide which one you picked. Got it? Good. Now set it aside as you read the rest of this blog, but keep it within reach and don’t forget what card you selected…
In the years before I met my wife, Ava, and long before we founded Silk & Shadows together, I primarily made my living as a magician. I spent my 20s and 30s touring the world performing magic and grand stage illusion. From Broadway in NYC to London’s West End, from the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City to The Forum in Beirut, and back again; it was a pretty amazing job. I do still work in this capacity on occasion; in fact, I am writing this blog while performing for a week at the world-famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, CA. And as we (that is, the illusionists with whom I have worked for the last 20 years and I) were in our tech rehearsal yesterday before doing two shows on a Monday night, I was struck by just how much my magical past has prepared me for working in the wedding business.
Putting on a magic show and putting on a wedding are essentially the same thing: you need to do your homework and come prepared. The day-of is going to be long and will not go perfectly according to plan. And your attention to detail… EVERY… LITTLE… DETAIL… will elevate or hinder how the show is received by your audience. For your average Joe, it can be difficult to see how skill sets transfer between industries, so here is a quick break down of how these two events both differ and resemble each other, and how the skills required to succeed in both are valuable. Each event consists of two major phases and each phase contains its own challenges and rewards, but as you will see, a successful magic show does not happen by magic; neither does a wedding.
Pre-Production/Planning:
A magic show is the creation of a series of effects which serve to highlight and showcase the abilities of a magician (or magicians), providing a sense of wonder and amazement for the audience. Work on the show starts months (sometimes years) prior to the actual day-of performance. Effects are selected and tested against each other to see how they will play for an audience. Methods are discussed and experimented with, discarded and perfected. A script is written and edited, memorized and then rehearsed so the physical moves can be done effortlessly while monologues are being spoken. A famous British magician named David Berglas said that, “Magic is the art of simultaneously saying one thing while doing another, while thinking about a third thing.” This can only be accomplished with preparation and practice. Then music is selected to compliment the dramatic beats of the effects. Lighting is designed to enhance and conceal those elements that the magician feels important. In an interesting contrast to a wedding, the venue is usually booked once the show is ready to be performed, but not always. At the end of this process, there is a living blueprint for the show along with a plan of how to execute it. As my middle school band director used to say, “The performance is either the reward or the punishment that you give yourself based upon your preparation.” Thanks, Mr. Humpreys.
Weddings are the creation of a singular event consisting of many different services provided by many different vendors all with a view of executing the vision of the stars of the show – the couple. The soon-to-be newly-weds (ahem… hopefully with the aid of a planner) secures a venue first, and then the planning begins in earnest. Vendors are contacted and negotiated with to retain their services. Months pass like minutes in the selection of color palettes and florals, coordinating outfits, tasting catering menus, chatting with photographers and DJs while trying to find a balance between budget and retaining vendors who share your vision and whom make you feel comfortable and supported, what in PDX we call vibing. One could even look at RSVPs as advertising for one’s wedding, just like a magic show must advertise to the public since we both want the same thing – an audience to be there with us on that special day.
Showtime/Day-Of Execution:
Once the preparation has been completed, which in the entertainment industry we call pre-production, then comes the actual show. For the purposes of this blog, I am specifically talking about the one-off magic show, that plucky touring production that creates a show in a new venue every day. A typical production day would consist of arriving early in the morning, loading in (that is, getting everything that is required to mount the show into the building), constructing all the props and sets, installing the lighting and sound. While this is happening, the creative team is rehearsing with the magicians and any other cast members e.g. dancers or other variety acts. Here is where the choreography is adjusted according to the dimensions of the stage and entrances and exits are planned. The schematics of the venue would have been shared months prior, but sometimes those plans are inaccurate or outdated and adjustments are required. Once the technical team has finished installation, then comes a tech rehearsal which consists of running the show in what’s called a cue-to-cue so that the technicians of each department (lighting, sound, wardrobe, scenic, special FX, et cetera) can make any adjustments needed and problem solve to make their portion of the show work within the environment of that particular venue. This is when the house crew will also be trained in what they need to accomplish during performance and given cues accordingly. Then comes rehearsal of the actual show which is where the creative and technical sides combine to make the actual production. The backstage ballet is created so that all the moving pieces happen at exactly the right time in exactly the right sequence. Then the audience comes in and the show is performed. After the lights dim and the final bow has been taken, everything is deconstructed and loaded out back into trucks and trailers, and the company moves on to do the whole thing again the next day. This whole process is completed in 8-12 hours before the curtain rises, sometimes less. It’s hectic and exhausting and for those of us who have made this our livelihood, it’s glorious.
By now, I’m sure you can see the wedding parallel: early morning load-in, vendors all working to install their portion of the event, never having enough time, and dealing with the whole gamut of possibilities for something not going according to plan and needing to adjust on the fly (all of which will happen eventually if you do this for long enough). And at the end of the show, everything is torn down and loaded out and it’s as if you were never there. The skills involved in not only dealing with mishaps, but thriving in this environment are the same for both camps. The best professionals in both industries have developed a high level of organization, but also adaptability. They cultivate fine attention to detail, while also understanding that the job is NOT about us; we are all of us in service of the couple, in service of the show. It’s also not enough to just be amazing at your specialized niche, but soft skills are at a premium in both industries as communicating with other vendors/departments is a necessity and imperative for success. We all know that we don’t like working with people who bring us down and create complications, but ironically enough there are plenty of those folks who find their way in and make everyone’s lives more difficult. They don’t last long. One final word about the Day-Of Execution. Both magicians and wedding vendors are at their most effective and efficient when they successfully create the feeling that the show the audience is witnessing is unique and special and has never happened before. In the theatre we call this the Illusion of the First Time. It doesn’t matter if you’ve found a person’s card 10,000 times before or if you’ve taken 100,000 photos of couples right after they kissed and were both drunk on joy; our audiences deserve our everything and that requires dedication to the vision and commitment to its execution via active attention. People can always tell when you’re just going through the motions and if you’ve been hired to make their vision happen, it means that they have decided to trust you, so stand and be true. And sometimes the situation is extreme and you’re consoling a panicked bride because the groom’s mother has attempted a coup and is consolidating her power in the bridal suite. Now is the time for active listening, empathy, and servant leadership. It’s those moments that will be remembered after the honeymoon has faded to memory (and you reach out for a review). As for magic, this could be the only time in that person’s life that they will see magic up close and happening before their very eyes. Treat each situation like it will only happen once and for each, give your audience the gift of wonder… every… single… time.
What’s that? Oh, yes… your card from the beginning of the blog. Do you still have it? Good. Turn it over and gaze onto her Majesty the Queen of Hearts.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
2 @$$holes in other words, to coin a term that my mother used sparingly, but to great effect.
3 Either I was correct and it’s magic (amazing!) or I was wrong and you chose the wrong card (oops!). Either way, thanks for reading.
