INTERVIEW: Newest Sleepy Hollow show is magical, spirit-driven entertainment
Photo: From left, Nick Wallace and Mark Clearview star in The Spirits of Sleepy Hollow Country. Photo courtesy of HHV / Provided by official site.
SLEEPY HOLLOW, N.Y. — Mark Clearview and Nick Wallace, magicians extraordinaire, invite audiences to check in with the scary spirits of Sleepy Hollow country in their new illusion-based show, produced by Historic Hudson Valley at the characteristically spooky barn of Phillipsburg Manor in Sleepy Hollow, New York. Over the course of an hour, the performers offer stories about the most famous spirits of this haunted land, and accompanying each tale is an exquisitely devised and executed magic trick that instigates well-earned oohs and aahs from the seated patrons.
For those who like to get their fright on in the Hudson Valley, given its intimate connection to Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, then spending an evening with Clearview and Wallace is perfect Halloween entertainment. Performances of The Spirits of Sleepy Hollow Country, taking place Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, continue through Oct. 29, but theatergoers should act fast because tickets are hard to come by.
“I’m a transplant to New York City from Toronto, Canada, and I’ve been working in the city for a number of years now,” Clearview said in a recent phone interview as he was walking on the busy sidewalks of Manhattan. “And I’m constantly thinking about things that might be a good fit for magic. I have a speakeasy show that I do in New York City in Manhattan, but my style of magic is comedy magic with a sinister undertone.”
This sinister undertone and love for things that go bump in the night led him to reach out to Historic Hudson Valley, a not-for-profit education organization that promotes several important historic properties in the Lower Hudson Valley. During the fall season, they also become the preeminent producers of Halloween scares and spooky tales in the region. Some of their claims to fame: The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze, Irving’s ‘Legend’ with Jonathan Kruk and Belinda’s Bewitching Tea Party, among other attractions.
“The folks over in Sleepy Hollow said, ‘You know, we’ve been thinking about doing more of a theatrical experience. Do you have any experiences with seances?'” Clearview remembered the conversation the going. “Then I said, ‘I have a guy, Nick Wallace, back in Canada, who also works in the States quite a bit. We’ve always been in each other’s circles, but now would be a good time to join forces and make this sinister, spooky, scary, magical ghost experience with enough levity from my comedy side of things that it’s stomachable and enjoyable.’ Nobody loses their lives or lunch during the show.”
The original idea was to host a magic show in the local area, and visitors would stop by and enjoy some illusions. Historic Hudson Valley pressed the magicians for a show that was more inspired by the history and “spirits” of Sleepy Hollow, and Clearview and Wallace immediately approved.
“I didn’t even know how close Sleepy Hollow was to me,” he said. “I’m in East Harlem, and it’s the one and only Sleepy Hollow in the world. I watched the Disney cartoon when I was younger. I read the story, and being around all the rich, rich history that’s around there, you can’t help but want to make the whole show about that. So this is more of a theatrical experience with ghost stories, each directly informed by one of the spirits that has been told to us, so we have Hulda the witch, Major [John] André, Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman himself. So it’s really a ghost story about each of them and then an effect, which is greatly inspired by the story we tell, and then the whole show culminates in a surprise ending, which I won’t give away.”
The first three performances of The Spirits of Sleepy Hollow Country were unfortunately canceled due to the heavy rains that caused a state of emergency in New York, but the second night — featuring three performances in the evening — proved wonderful to Clearview and Wallace. They had a blast, and the sold-out audiences walked away mesmerized.
“People are clearly ready and primed to be spooked,” Clearview reported. “Just walking across the bridge over the Mill Pond and into the barn, you’re already into the ambiance of the whole performance. Audiences have really seemed to like it.”
Clearview added: “I would just love it to keep running [year after year] and keep tweaking. The thing about Nick and I, as theater-makers as well as magicians, is the show just gets better and better as it goes on because we have more ideas. We see what works. We implement more things, and on the sale side of things, I know that we’re already ⅔ sold out for all the performances. So if word of mouth continues and people keep enjoying it, hopefully we’ll have a whole sold-out run. To me, it would be a no-brainer to come back and do it again. It’s definitely Nick and I’s hope.”
Halloween is very much in Clearview’s blood. He credits his father’s love of the holiday for his own admiration for all things creepy and fright-filled.
“It’s definitely my thing,” Clearview said. “My father who passed last year was a Halloween fanatic and made up the house with thousands and thousands of dollars of homemade things and store-bought things and would do a haunted house in our garage when I was growing up. He would always entrust me with the job of scaring everyone in the house with different booby traps and practical jokes, so I grew up with Halloween being huge in our house. … [Harry] Houdini also died on Halloween day, and Halloween day is National Magicians Day. So it’s kind of all wrapped up in there. I’m definitely into Halloween. I wish my dad could be around to see this show. He would be a huge fan of it.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Historic Hudson Valley’s The Spirits of Sleepy Hollow Country, starring Mark Clearview and Nick Wallace, continues through Sunday, Oct. 29 at Phillipsburg Manor in Sleepy Hollow, New York. Click here for more information and tickets.
