I was asked this question today:

‘How can magicians script and arrange several magic tricks to get maximum entertainment value? Is there a tried and true method of determining what order of the effects is best?

This is what I have learned so far:
Opener – something quick and visual to let the audience know that the magicians, good and that they will be entertained.
More Magic . . .Use the audience as much as possible, they love to be involves (most of them at least, I hate to make fun of a volunteer or make them look foolish)
Closer – usually the best and biggest WOW factor magicians can do.

Any suggestion about pacing the routines and what goes well with other tricks?’

That’s a great question. In fact, it’s one of our favorite questions to be asked! This magician has been hard at work. He has chosen the tricks he wants to perform, which is really the easy part. Now he faces the biggest challenge magicians have: Making it all flow together into a polished and entertaining act.

Option 1:

Don’t worry about it. Magic is a fun hobby, and a great second income, if you decide to perform magic for money. Just keep finding new tricks and show them to as many people as you can, The ones that don’t get great reactions can be dumped and new ones added. Your local magic dealer will LOVE YOU, and you will have a decent reputation locally, as one of the best magicians. You will constantly be met with requests to ‘Show us what new tricks you have’.

Option 2:

You take the time to find out who you are as a performer. The style of magic that suits you best, and the most effective way for you to present your magic.  You select only tricks that strengthen your performance and your act. As you study each trick, you create, test, and refine the way you present them. New tricks are added in a way that increases the power of the other magic tricks you do, until you have an act that is the best it can be.

If you look at all the magicians performing magic today, some are pretty terrible to be honest. Some are really good, but most are just an average magician, after all that’s what average means.

Ticking along with option 1, WILL give you results, and your magic will improve over time. However, it will never push you past being one of the average magicians. All magicians are searching for new magic tricks. Magicians everywhere are practicing like crazy. That’s what everyone does:

It’s a path to being just an average magician.

DO THIS: You need to CHOOSE right from the START, where you will fit into this scale.  It’s not something you can just gradually move along, until you wake up one day, years from now, better than everyone else. Every day you spend practicing without making this choice, is a wasted chance.

Decide RIGHT NOW to set your aim above the average magician, then do something to act on that decision.

Magicians that asked me this question, are on the right track. They have got to the stage where they want more from their magic. Professional magicians have something more than new tricks. They are doing more than the average guys. Not by accident, but by a conscious choice to study more than the moves of a new trick. They follow option 2. They look at themselves, and their performance, and find ways to make THAT part of their show as good as the tricks within it.
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By Dominic Reyes

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