REVIEW | Vitaly Beckman’s Sensation of Magic

By Anastasia Koutalianos | November 12, 2011

(Photo: Vitaly Beckman and me.)  

Put together Balky from Perfect Strangers, the ever-funny Borat and the tricky duo Penn & Teller, and what do you get? Vitaly Beckman.

 Who’s Vitaly? An illusionist who is bound to blow your mind. Seriously.

 Set in The Cultch’s intimate Vancity Culture Lab theatre, Vitaly Beckman’s Sensation of Magic show is simply delightful.

 While some tricks have you less than wowed (Youtube and the like have ruined the slight-of-hand star), others will leave you completely stumped. How a bus can simply drive off a photograph…no idea. How Vitaly can read small type on a randomly selected page of a book from thirty feet away…wowzers. How a playing card, signed by an audience member, can find its way into a sealed water bottle…magic.

 Still, the set design was understated; and the flow of the evening, a little on the rough side. (A lack of show direction alienated the audience from the performance…to clap or not to clap? Luckily, audience participation did improve as the night went on.) But take our illusionist’s boundless imagination and cheesy (yet enjoyable) sense of humour, and you have a magic show that will make you believe all things are possible. A must see performance!

 Vitaly Beckman’s Sensation of Magic show runs until November 20, 2011 at The Cultch (1895 Venables Street, Vancouver). For tickets and more info, click here. (Note: No show on November 14 or 15.)