After making the Statue of Liberty vanish and flying across the Grand Canyon you would have thought it would be hard for Copperfield to find any more spectator illusions – but in this themed special – David floats a genuine train carriage above the heads of a group of spectator before making it vanish into thin air.
David’s entrance on a motorbike which morphs into two women is a beautiful transformation and shows a sense for theater that is still unmatched by any other contemporary magician.
The next trick is a perfect presentation of the Card Through Window for special guest Jane Seymore (this version has enough subtleties to fool most ‘know it alls’.
We then cut (pun intended) to a stage performance of a decapitation (and of course restoration) in which David has a bit of a boogie to his old fave Peter Gabriel. The illusion is effective and the audience reaction this upbeat presentation is fantastic. For me I thought the method was a bit obvious – but it still looked great.
Next we have David and a volunteer from the audience doing a rope routine which looks like it could be straight out of a children’s magic show.
Back to a Peter Gabriel backing track and David performs an enchanting and hypnotic levitation of a girl which is definitely a highlight of the entire TV special. Another highlights is a perfect performance of Kevin James ‘Floating Rose effect. If magic was real – it would look like that!
‘The Big Black Box’ is David Copperfield’s version of an appearing cabinet that of course takes the illusion to a whole new level.
A quick interactive magic trick and then we are on to the grand finale. Vanishing the Orient Express. Things have moved on a lot since David vanished a Leah Jet (which in comparison looks a little silly)The final illusion is basically a huge Asra illusion – but even with repeated viewings it is a masterful illusion that will keep you guessing for ages if not forever.
