INTERVIEW: Asi Wind spills some secrets, but not all of them
Photo: Asi Wind’s Inner Circle continues its extended engagement at the Judson Theatre in New York City. Photo courtesy of the artist / Provided by BBB with permission.
Asi Wind’s new show, Inner Circle, is a head-trip theatrical experience that produces more than a few jaw-dropping moments. The close-up magic show, running 75 minutes and playing an extended run at downtown’s Judson Theatre, finds Wind holding court in a beautifully created mini-theater where some patrons sit around a table and others sit in raked seating that circulates the stage area. The experience is intimate and mysterious, a perfect fit for a show that finds Wind using a unique deck of cards to instigate oohs and aahs from the assembled crowd.
Magic is seeing a renewed resurgence in recent years. Many more shows are popping up on the theatrical landscape, and critics have fallen in love with the art form. Audiences have responded in kind and packed these intimate settings for an evening of spectacle and spirited fun.
Wind, chief consultant to magician David Blaine, clearly is one of the best of the best. His show doesn’t use a traditional deck of cards. Instead, as patrons enter the Judson Theatre, they are asked to write their name down on a blank playing card. These cards are then used throughout the 75-minute experience to maximum effect. And there are no plants in the audience; this is pure sleight of hand from a master storyteller and expert magician.
The show, which continues through February and often features two performances per night, has its origins in an act that Wind performed at the legendary Magic Castle in Los Angeles.
“There is a place called the Magic Castle in Hollywood, California, and years and years ago I used to perform there when I was much younger,” Wind said in a recent phone interview. “Because of work, gigs and all that, I had not been back to the club in 10 years. I made numerous attempts to go and perform there, but eventually I’m like, OK, I’m booking this. In the castle, there are rooms. There’s the close-up room, parlor room and stage, and I love close-up. It has about 25 people in a room, and two weeks before the show, I go for a walk with my friend in the park. And he’s asking, ‘What are you going to do there?’ I said, ‘I don’t know. I’m going to wing it. I’m just going to do a bunch of tricks.’ He goes, ‘No, you can’t do that.’ So I open my phone, and in my phone I have lots of ideas for shows. And one of the ideas, in one line, said, ‘Do a whole act with a deck of cards that the audience creates.’ We were both like, ‘Wow, this is really intriguing,’ and within two weeks I put together a 20-minute act.”
Wind performed that 20-minute act at the Magic Castle, and the response was beyond anything he could imagine. The audience members seemed to respond most to the fact that they were enjoying close-up magic without that traditional deck of cards. Wind, whose previous off-Broadway show was Concert of the Mind, thought he was onto something, so he continued to develop the performance until it morphed into Inner Circle. It turns out that writing one’s name on a card is a personal exercise that immediately connects the audience to the performer, so Wind stuck with that central conceit for the show.
“I was a bit shocked at how much it meant to them,” said Wind, who was once named Close-Up Magician of the Year. “When you have an idea like that, it’s hard to gauge what it’s going to do. OK, it’s a deck of cards with people’s names, so what? But it turns out names are a very complex and sensitive subject. There’s a piece in the show where I ask somebody to pick a bunch of named strangers and look them over and think of a first name in that group that resonates with them, that makes them think of somebody in their life. … I’m looking at her, and I see a shift in her face, completely different, because she’s thinking about one of the names. And I realize, I don’t know why, that the person she’s thinking of is invoking a very strong emotion, and my immediate conclusion is she’s thinking of somebody who is no longer alive. And I realize, those names could mean a lot to people, and they can bring memories. They can bring you to a time. It’s about connection. What does it mean? I think each person has a complex relationship with their own name. It’s not something you take for granted.”
To help Wind with this magic, he and the team behind Inner Circle have created a theater from scratch within the Judson space. John Lovick is credited as the director, and Adam Blumenthal is the production designer. ARCANA is responsible for the production build. Wind is proud of this theatrical space and how it was created to suit his artistry.
“We created it from scratch,” he said. “It’s all covered, from the floor to the seats to the set to the curtains. You don’t see any of the original room basically, so people that know this room really well, they’re shocked at how much it is transformed. I talk about it in the show. It’s not that we just went for creating a beautiful space, which was also important, but the space serves the show because with close-up magic, you really need to bring people close. You need to create this intimacy that usually doesn’t exist in theaters, or it’s very hard to create in theaters. First of all, the fact that they’re almost a full circle allows us to bring everybody super close. According to code, we had to fight for every inch. What if we do this? What if we give you an aisle here and an aisle there? Can we do that? Can we do this? It was all in the interest of bringing people close, super close, because the intimacy aspect of the show is very important for it to work. We built everything.”
Wind, of course, keeps the secrets behind the magic to himself, and he also prefers that writers — like this reporter — refrain from giving away too much about the experience. However, he did provide some details on a few acts that audiences will see, and he has no problem sharing these because the outcome at each performance is so unique.
“The first piece that you can easily describe is when a person chooses a bunch of random names, looks them over and thinks of one name in there that makes them think of somebody in his life, and then me, I’m able to tell all the names he didn’t choose and then tell him who he chose and what this person means to him,” Wind said. “So I don’t just know the name. I know you thought of your sister, and you’ve not seen her in [so many years]. It’s crazy, and then I tell the name. That’s the piece that usually brings people to tears because it’s so personal. The second piece that you can, by all means, describe is when I ask the audience, have you ever thought about changing your name? Usually there’s a handful of people who thought about it, and I randomly pick one of them. The person that I choose I’m able to know within a few questions what name they would give themselves if they could choose a different name. With these things, it’s very hard to kill the surprise because it’s always impressive.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Asi Wind’s Inner Circle continues through Feb. 26 at the Judson Theatre in Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.
