Presto!

Over the weekend I had a great time at magician Leon Etienne's benefit show at New Hartford High School. He did a pretty standard mix of sleight of hand and stage magic, but I thought two segments in particular stood out. The first was a tight sequence of rope tricks that he blazed through with an amazing amount of skill. It was one trick after another, rat a tat tat, and his patter and coordination was phenomenally good.

The second was a very polished presentation of the "Metamorphosis" illusion, popularized by Harry Houdini, that has the magician changing places with an assistant locked in a trunk in the blink of an eye. You've probably seen the trick on television, including a segment in one of Fox's "Masked Magician" specials that revealed how it's accomplished, but seeing it done live is a totally different experience. I'm familiar with the mechanics of how the trick is done and, if anything, that made his performance of it even more impressive.