During the Victorian Era, magic experienced it's first true golden age. The level of creativity was at an all time high. The industrial revolution found an overwhelming passion which combined newly discovered mechanics with old world craftsmanship. Magic, always at the cutting edge of science and technology, warmly embraced that which the average person had not quite come to understand... (we still do!)
Magicians such as John Henry Anderson, the Great Wizard of the North, were instrumental in keeping the art of magic in the foreground through incredible publicity and self-promotion, but it was through the creative efforts of men like Bautier DeKolta, John Nevil Maskelyne,and Jean Eugene Robert Houdin that proper European society came to accept magic as an entertainment worthy of respect. While still in many ways, magic was managed by the travelling showmen of the time, it was during the Victorian Era that it first was able to leave the street fairs and carnivals and present itself in the luxury of a theater.
Michael Baker has developed a show that takes you back to this time. Presented as an historical tour of sorts, Michael's show recreates much of the finer magic tricks and presentations that graced that time. In many cases, you will see the actual vintage antique pieces of conjuring apparatus that fooled and entertained audiences well over a hundred years ago. In other cases, Michael Baker has painstakingly reproduced pieces that previously had only existed as documentations in books; the actual vintage pieces having not survived the years. Much of what is presented is magic that no one has seen in almost a century! All of this is wrapped in a wonderful presentation that jumps in and out of the past through recreative vignettes and highlighting commentary.
This show is only available as a theater run, and may not be booked for private entertainment. This is necessary to keep the integrity of the show at a high level through total control of environmental factors that preserve the authenticity of such an undertaking.