INTERVIEW: Finding the starting point and ending point with Asi Wind
Photo: Asi Wind’s Inner Circle continues its extended engagement at the Judson Theatre through Jan. 14. Photo courtesy of the artist / Provided by BBB with permission.
Asi Wind, the celebrated illusionist, will soon close his much-extended closeup magic show, Asi Wind’s Inner Circle, at the Judson Theatre. This sleight-of-hand spectacle has been the little show that could, having played its black box theater off Washington Square Park for more than one year. For Wind, the experience has been transformative, and he’s at a bittersweet time as he prepares to say goodbye.
But, like all magic shows, there’s a catch.
“So, we’re definitely closing the show here in New York, but I’m quite certain that this is not the last time I’m doing Inner Circle,” Wind said in a recent phone interview. “I think it will be revived one day at some point. It’s going to be weird not doing this show, but … I think it will come back. Yes, for now, it will be goodbye, but it’s not final.”
In the show, Wind holds court around a circular card table where a few lucky patrons sit and watch his magic up close. The rest of the spectators are scattered in bleacher-style seating, almost hovering over the stage. No matter where one sits at the Judson Theatre, there’s a perfect view of Wind and his fast-moving hands. He uses cards throughout the evening that are personal to each audience member, and then … well, it’s better to keep the secrets secret. But after 75 minutes, there are more than enough oohs and aahs to satiate the curiosity palate of those assembled in his “inner circle.”
For Wind, when he began this journey in 2022, he had no expectation that performances would run into 2024.
“You don’t know how long a show will last,” he said. “Look, I had a vision for this show. I wanted an intimate, closeup magic show. I believed it was going to be good, and, of course, we worked very hard to do the best show possible. But, you know, sometimes that’s not enough. You have an idea, and then it’s really up to the audience, to the critics, to either like it or not. You can’t predict that. I’m so happy that, knock on wood, all the reviews and everything were glorious, beautiful reviews. You hope for the best. You do the best job you can do, but you have to cross your fingers after that. We definitely did not expect to run this long. I think we were slated until April. … But we extended the show six times. Every extension was a big compliment to the show and to me personally.”
Wind said he believes the success of the show has to do with the intimate connection that is achieved throughout the performance. This is not a big, brash musical with the audience feeling like they are miles away from the characters and plot. This is magic on the most intimate of levels, with Wind literally able to reach out and shake hands with patrons. There’s no escaping the connection in Asi Wind’s Inner Circle.
“The goal of the show is to connect,” said Wind, who is the recipient of the Magician of the Year Award from the Academy of Magical Arts at the Magic Castle in Los Angeles. “The magic that I designed for this show is to create intimacy and to create a connection. I think it comes from a real sincere place, and the audience can sense that it’s not fake. It’s real. I think we have a desire to connect. … You go see a play, there’s a fourth wall. The audience is observing the show, watching it. The actors are basically pretending there is no audience, right. In this show, there is no fourth wall. It’s all of us together creating this thing that by the end of the show, people feel like they’re part of a tribe, a congregation, and it’s a beautiful thing. You feel like they became a group of people that belong in this room. We are laughing together. We are having a great time together. There’s something about that connection, I think, that resonates, and they feel it, and they believe it. It comes from a real sincere place. That’s my best guess. Of course, I hope the magic is strong, and there’s comedy. My goal is to make people feel very comfortable. I think all of that together is what makes the show work.”
One of the most moving parts of Inner Circle is when Wind tells a story about his professional history. When he first moved to New York City and started his magical arts, he set up shop in Washington Square Park, located in the West Village around the campus of New York University. Now, he finds himself making his off-Broadway debut at a customized black box theater a few feet away from where it all began.
“Honestly, I never put two and two together,” Wind said with a laugh. “We’re working on this show, and we looked at many, many theaters. … There are probably three or four rooms in New York that could accommodate a show like this. Eventually this was the perfect room. My agent and I walked in, and we immediately looked at each other and said, ‘This is it.’ It was literally us looking for a perfect room, and we found it. We started building the set, and at some point my producer, Arny Granat, goes, ‘Hold on. Isn’t this exactly the spot where you started your career in New York? Right here on the streets of Washington Square Park?’ And I go, ‘Holy shit, yes.’ It was all of a sudden, like, fate. It was an amazing coincidence. We said, that’s another circle, a starting and an ending point in a weird way. That’s something that we really discovered by fluke. It was not intentional. We did not look for a theater exactly where I started. It just so happened to be that way, and then it became significant to me.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Asi Wind’s Inner Circle, featuring Asi Wind, continues through Jan. 14 at the Judson Theatre in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
