I'm Fascinated By The Similarities And Differences

I Was 16 At The Time, And I Came Backstage And Started Hanging Out With Them. I Said, "well, Maybe You Can 'vanish' The Silk This Way." The Opening Was A Black Stage While The "magic To Do" Song Started Playing. All You Saw Were Hands, Lit By Jules Fisher, And Then Ben Vereen Would Appear Beyond The Hands, And At The End Of The Scene He Would Vanish A Silk. The Spotlight Would Hit A Red Spot On The Floor Where You'd See The Silk On The Floor. He'd Pull The Silk Out Of The Floor And It Became The Entire Set Coming Out Of The Floor.

You'd Go In The Magic Shop [as An 8-year-old ], And You'd Walk Up To The Magicians Doing Stuff, And They'd Turn Their Back On You. "oh My Gosh, I Wish They Would Accept Me." It Really Lit A Fire. I Really Wanted To Succeed.

A Few Years Later, When I Was Still Going To These Meetings, I Was Also "second-acting" Every Broadway Show [walking In With The Crowd After Intermission]. I Snuck In To See Grease With John Travolta In Kind Of A Secondary Part And Adrienne Barbeau Playing Rizzo, Into Pippin, Hung Out With Ben Vereen And Bob Fosse. It Was An Amazing Time For A Teenager.

I Find Revealing The Secrets Of Magic Quite Reprehensible.

As I Did More Of That, I Realized, "well, Maybe I Should Do More Magic."