Bill Blagg prides himself on not presenting a typical magic show.
“I think a lot of people when they hear the words ‘magic show,’ initially think of a lady dancing around on stage and a magician dancing around and her getting in and out of boxes and that sort of thing,” he said. “Our show is as far from that as you could possibly imagine.
“The best way I could describe our show is, it has all the elements of a great Broadway production. From the music, the lighting, the scenery, the stage sets as well as the narrative that’s used throughout the show. We use magic to take the audience on a journey just like a Broadway play does. The best way I could describe it is, ‘Jersey Boys’ meets David Copperfield.”
“The Magic of Bill Blagg” will be performed March 9 the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan.
Blagg, who grew up in Zion and graduated from Zion-Benton Township High School in 1998, has been a professional magician for more than two decades.
“I fell in love with magic as a little kid growing up in the area and it’s one of those things I never put down,” he said. “The narrative touches on my journey and the influence of my great-grandfather, who sent me three magic books for my 10th birthday and how those books changed my life and shaped it into touring the world performing magic and illusion shows all over the country.”
He got a magic set for Christmas when he was seven and soon after that began corresponding with his great-grandfather and learned he was an amateur magician.
“He would write me back and give me magic trick ideas that I could build with everyday things from around the house,” he said. “He sent me the ‘Tarbell Course in Magic’ volumes one, two and three, for my 10th birthday that he had since 1952.
“Those three books have thousands and thousands of tricks. More importantly, they didn’t just focus on the magic and how to do the tricks, they talked about creating a show and performance and stage presence. There was a wealth of information in those and really became what I consider to be the foundation of my magic career.”
He graduated from Carthage College in Wisconsin – doing magic shows to support himself — and put his faith in himself and his passion.
“My dad always said an overnight success takes 30 years and I’ve been performing magic professionally now for 24 years,” he said. “It’s literally been a growing process from my very first shows in the Lake County area to corporate events and reinvesting in the show and continuing to change and evolve our brand and our unique style of magic to the show that we have today.”
Blagg travels with a team of six people, a tour bus and a semi-truck hauling more than 26,000 pounds of equipment.
“We have the full-scale illusions that people expect. I pass through the blades of a steel industrial fan. I get locked in a glass box that gets hoisted 10 feet up in the air and I instantly disappear. I squish my body down to four inches tall and can fit inside a little shoebox,” he said. “There’s a variety of that grand-scale magic also combined with some of that classic magic – sleight of hand and audience participation. It’s a real unique mix presented in the performance that we tour with.”
He changes his show up “pretty consistently,” he said, frequently adding new tricks to the routine.
“At any given time, we have four to six illusions or effects that are in development,” he said. “This fall we have a variety of new things coming to the stage that we’ve been working on for about five years now.”
One of his favorite tricks is a grand-scale illusion simply called The Glass Box illusion because it uses the plexiglass box he gets inside.
“The visual, the magic is incredible,” he said. “We have a new piece in the show right now … the visual behind it is so incredible and the audience reaction to it is phenomenal.”
He doesn’t put a trick onstage until he feels it is as perfect as he can make it. He has a trick coming back to the show this fall that hasn’t been in the show for about five years and before that, it took him 12 years to perfect the show and get it to the stage, he said.
“We’ve been working on a new version that has a little bit more bells and whistles. We’re putting the final touches on it now and that’s what’s coming back this fall.”
He finds that a lot of people haven’t seen live magic, except for maybe card tricks or a magician at a birthday party. That’s why he can’t wait to bring his show to the Genesee, he said. It’s a lot of fun and a great night of entertainment for the whole family, he said.
“It’s this whole immersive experience,” he said “As much as people love magic, they love the story. It’s something that everyone can relate to and something everyone can see themselves inside of what’s happening. I don’t want to give it away but it’s something the audience never sees coming. It’s not just simply about did you like this trick, here’s another trick. It’s cohesive. It’s a true theatrical experience.”
The Magic of Bill Blagg
When: 7:30 p.m. March 9
Where: Genesee Theatre, 203 N. Genesee St., Waukegan
Tickets: $28-$48
Information: 847-263-6300; geneseetheatre.com
Annie Alleman is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.
