“See It If You Like to Smile” *****
By Elyse Orecchio (guest reviewer)
From time to time Theatre's Leiter Side will be posting reviews of Off-Off Broadway shows my schedule prevents me from seeing. I hope you find the expanded coverage useful. Sam Leiter
By the authority vested in me as a former young actress who
moonlighted in clowning for five minutes and used a magic kit to perform a few
tricks at birthday parties in the outer boroughs, I shall now review a magic
show.
Brought to the New Victory Theater by Korea-based GRUEJARM
Productions, SNAP’s something-for-everyone assortment of magic acts delivers on
its promise to create the fantasy of an altered reality through mime, fairytale
storytelling and Chaplinesque vaudevillian comedy.
If you surveyed the family-comprised audience on their favorite
act, the answers would likely vary a whole lot. The youngest attendees were
full-on roaring at the Tricksters’ slapstick antics, wonderfully delivered by
C.S. Choi, Young Min Lee, Mujun Jeong, and Jeong-seok Mun.
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| Photo: Taewon Kim. |
Adults were transfixed by dream-like acts from The Alchemist
(Young-Min Kim) and The Florist (Chang-min Lee), who evoked magic with sand and
rose petals in acts practically cinematic in their beauty and poetry, accented
with the majesty of Uni Jhang’s classical music underscoring.
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| Photo: Taewon Kim. |
My tween and teen agreed on their favorite act: Secret of the
Atelier, a reprise of an earlier scene, Haunted Atelier, that provided a
different perspective on tricks we’d already seen. Plenty entertaining for everyone,
but with a nuanced sophistication for the older guests.
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| Photo: Taewon Kim. |
As any magic show should, SNAP offers plenty of “how did they do
that moments?”—a standout for me involving a disappearing shoe—but what sets
this production apart is the engaging narrative it creates. The tricks are so
seamlessly integrated into scenes that the magic becomes almost secondary, as
if the tricks are simply lines of dialogue, a magical quality in a nonverbal
production.
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| Photo: Taewon Kim. |
Clever is another word I’d use. There’s a throwback video game
sequence that’s a real crowd pleaser featuring The Dreamer (Ted Kim) and
Jung-Kook Park’s exciting lighting. The Oddball’s (Young-ju Kim) next-level
juggling is both impressive and a hoot. A recurring umbrella and adorable red
silk scarf become characters in their own right. With this elevated level of
entertainment value, SNAP doesn’t need to resort to a guy swooshing around a .
. . er . . . larger guy’s belly rolls to earn laughs (though laughs it sure
got). My 10-year-old whispered, “That’s mean.” I agree.
But don’t listen to me. Here’s a sampling of comments I heard
shouted by miniature critics at the New Vic:
Do that scene again!
That’s real magic—not just a cheesy kids’ show.
Wow! Wow! Wow!
How is that funny? (Hey, there’s always one.)
Reading the program bios, I was stricken by one commonality among
the performers: most have been practicing magic from a very early age. Between
the highly amusing production and corresponding magic-themed activities offered
to children both before and after the show, here’s hoping the New Vic keeps
pulling budding young magicians out of its hat.
New Victory Theater
209 W. 42nd St., NYC
Through April 28
Elyse Orecchio studied musical theatre at Emerson College, acting at CUNY Brooklyn College, and English Linguistics & Rhetoric at CUNY Hunter College. She has worked in nonprofit communications for more than a decade. She lives in Sunnyside, Queens, with her husband Joe, kids Theo and Melody, and three cats. eorecchio@gmail.com @elyseorecchio
