BY Jill Blackford

Magic has gotten a makeover recently with the street magic of David Blaine and the mind-freak brand of Criss Angel sorcery. While Michael Gutenplan’s Extraordinary Deceptions show is tame in comparison (and more mind-reading than mind-bending), it’s great family entertainment.

Confetti greets the audience as Gutenplan runs in at the start of the hourlong performance. In what he calls “thought transference,” Gutenplan guesses the word in the mind of one audience member: the random one that volunteer had picked from a paperback book. And Magic Michael (as he’s often called) gets it right. He also asks for a volunteer with firearm-shooting experience to assist with the paintball gun bullet catch – and both volunteer and magician make it away unscathed.

Running through December 30th at the Powerhouse Theatre in Santa Monica, this Magical Holiday Extravaganza is a great way to get kids thinking – and offering to go on stage. Gutenplan uses audience volunteers for almost every trick, and that keeps the mood familial and friendly.

Gutenplan himself plays the part of the skeptical viewer in order to frame his tricks more as “extraordinary deceptions” than elaborate magic. This teeters towards too self-deprecating at times, making it difficult to fully let go and just believe in the magic of it all.  Yet with his un-flashy illusions and bare-bones stage set-up, Gutenplan does keep the audience guessing and clapping, in the good, old-fashioned way.

Extraordinary Deceptions – A Magical Holiday Extravaganza
December 14-December 30, Fri-Sun
Powerhouse Theatre
3116 Second Street
Santa Monica, CA 90405
310.396.3680 x3 or www.powerhousetheatre.com
$25 General Admission; $80 Family 4-pack (promo code: Magic)

Photos by Julia Mazzeo