Monday Night Magic

A really enjoyable evening. I loved the small theater and the variety of performances. This was the second time I’ve been to a Monday Night Magic show and again found myself saying ‘how’d he do that??’ And, don’t miss the close-​up magic during intermission.

Full disclosure: we got tickets for this show through a friend of a friend. That guy just happens to be the emcee for the show. But, if you’ve read my past reviews, you know I try to be as honest and unbiased as possible.
Barring that, I put disclaimers up so you can judge on your own.
Anybody who really knows me knows I’m a sucker for all types of magic. Abracadabra, wands, wizards; Merlin, Harry, Carter the Great. If it’s mystifying and leaves me in awe, I’m all in.
So when my friend said she should get us tickets to Monday Night Magic while we were on our girls trip, I jumped at the chance.
The theater is teeny-​tiny, but that was actually a bonus. We got to sit close enough to the stage to see a few things, but were far enough back that we weren’t directly in the line of fire, if you get my meaning.
There were three main acts that night. The first youngster had a short set full of sleight of hand tricks. He also never spoke a word. He was good, but two of us did notice a few «oops» moments, where his hand wasn’t quite as sleight as it should have been.
The second magician (and yes, actually, I DO feel awful because I don’t remember their names. We were slightly tipsy, and my program is in a bag somewhere…) was a past contestant — and winner — on Penn & Teller’s show. You know. The one where magicians do their best to fool the two masters. What’s it called???
Anyway, in my opinion, this guy was the best performer of the night (blimey, what was his name?!) He was funny, yes, and he was damn entertaining. But his magic… I mean, let me put it this way: I NEVER want to be the one picked for the audience participation part. (Because I’d freeze, turn seventeen shades of crimson, then burst into flames of shame once I realized people were *looking* at me, that’s why.) Yet, throughout his act, I found myself almost wishing that I’d be picked, just so I could experience what he was doing first-​hand. Almost.
Because what he was doing… if it wasn’t magic, I don’t know what is.
Don’t ruin this for me, mmmkay?
One of our group did get picked, and she did great onstage (being slightly tipsy and all.) We, of course, dissected everything he had her do during our cab ride back to the hotel, but none of us could figure it out. Fascinating!
There was a kid in front of us, Sam, who also got picked to participate. We chatted during intermission, and he told us that he goes to the shows on the regular, and that he’d seen that trick done, and thought he had figured it out. He didn’t share (we didn’t ask), but the fact that this kid came to several shows A MONTH speaks volumes to the caliber of performer they have on stage every week.
The last performer, Jeff Moche (yay, internet!) was the headliner, and though he was hi-​freaking-​lariuos, he was sadly lacking on the magic. We counted (we’re not petty!), and he only did four actual tricks on stage. The rest of his act was comedy-​based.
And again yes, he was funny. He had us almost in tears at a few points, but we went for smoke and mirrors, not for chuckles and satire.
Still, the night as a whole was a blast. They do have a short intermission, in which two other magicians set up shop — one in front of the stage, the other near the entrance — to entertain the audience. They were both good and funny, and interacted with the crowds well. It was just impossible to see both their acts while they were going on at the same time. For myself, I snuck back and forth between the two while my friends vanished to the potty line.
Vanished. Get it? They VANISHED from the seats to the…
Hey where are you guys going

Really fun date night. There are several different magic acts, my favorite was the great throwdini, a knife thrower who had my heart in my throat.
The theater is a bit dated, but that’s ok.
I understand that there are many different acts that rotate in and out of here.
They have 2 close in magicians performing at opposite ends of the theater during intermission. The one I watched, Matteo or Matthias was super talented. So you get a lot of magic for the price.
Over all a great experience.

My husband took me here on a surprise date. It was a full house with people of all ages including kids. This is a small theater, without the Las Vegas style special effects, but it is an excellent show. During admission they have two magicians in different parts of the lobby and you can take a break or join one of these mini shows. Matteus, a magician from Chile performed some excellent card tricks that still have me scratching my head. A great show for families, dates, or go on your own. I don’t follow magic but I was well entertained.

This show is great! appeals to young and old. The theater is small enough so all can see and during intermission you can get close up with magicians. They are both entertainingly humorous and equally talented. The night I was there Dave Corsaro hosted the show and performed. He was very engaging, talented and funny (with humor that played to both adults and kids). I would recommend for both locals and out-​of towners

Excellent performers and a pure magical experience that I will never forget! Great team!

Got this on a living social deal and thought it was average. I was truly thinking I was going to a magic show but felt like it was more of a comedy show. The few magic tricks I saw were good but I would have liked more.

I love magic. I’ve been the magic castle in LA, I practice a bit of magic myself, and have always appreciated the art.
Monday night magic was really disappointing. This show is truly for young kids, though I didn’t see this in any of the promotional materials (on Goldstar). Also — Most of the magicians tried to be comedians too much. One of the magicians didn’t show up so the producer of the show had to step in.
Kids, on the other hand, seemed to love the show! If you have a 5 – 10 yr old, this is a great place to bring them. There were about 5 young kids that were brought on stage for various reasons.
Left about ¾ through the show.

Super fun. Reasonably priced. Intimate and high quality magic. You’ll be smiling for hours.

The magic (what there was of it) was great; the rest of it was eh. And the ratio was heavily skewed toward the eh.
The opening act was a two-​person Cirque du Soleil wannabe. It was so surreal that the word «trippy» is almost too obvious. But no magic.
The first magician spent a long time talking and performed only two actual tricks, both of which involved some writing mysteriously appearing, based on audience input he couldn’t have known ahead of time. His humor is heavily «ethnic» and somewhat dependent on making fun of his own Jewishness. Some people are offended by this; I just found it lazy and outdated. It was unnerving to hear the (obviously non-​Jewish) guy next to me laughing uproariously at stereotypes about … me.
There was close-​up magic at intermission. Do not miss this! It was mind-​boggling.
The second magician was much better than the first, although there was a lot of talking/​chatting with the audience there as well. He finished with some amazing card manipulation that showed great artistry.
The show changes regularly, so keep that in mind. My experience will differ from yours. There were people in the audience who were howling with laughter throughout, and there were people who were pretty drunk. There were children, and there were non-​English speakers (I’d love to hear what the latter made of all this. No, on second thought, maybe I wouldn’t.)
Parts of the show felt amateurish and others were designed with a lowest-​common-​denominator kind of appeal. There was some great magic, but it really felt like an old-​fashioned comedy-​variety show from network TV in the ‘70s. It doesn’t age well, but if that’s your thing, go for it.

Mixed thoughts, and I’ll break them into three categories:
The Good:
The magic is spectacular. Every show there are three different performers — all highly entertaining, and all very different from one another. The host adds comedy before, after, and between the three different magicians. And during the intermission, there are also close up magicians (very talented) in the hallway, offering more magic for those who choose to watch it… I should also mention that the tech crew does a good job with lighting and using sound effects.
The Bad:
$ 40 is an unnecessarily high price of admission for this. And the «discounts» they offer — of getting tickets for one or two dollars less — hardly makes a difference… Also, the seats are really not that comfortable. It feels very tight and packed in. I’d say the seats of the average movie theater are far better.
The Ugly:
The host makes jokes which touch upon racism. That’s just not something to joke about.

What an awesome evening! Definitely recommend anyone living/​visiting NYC to visit Monday Night Magic. It is perfect for everyone! I took my boss while we were in town and had the funnest evening. The show was great. I recommend sitting in the front rows if possible because the magicians walk off stage and interact with the audience. I definitely will return to experience all the different acts they feature. The owner & performers are so wonderful, which just makes the experience that much more magical. Definitely a must do in NYC!

We bought two VIP tickets for Monday Night Magic and I am glad that we chose January the 19^th. The performances were very professional & funny. We saw RJ Lewis, Francis Menotti & Michael Chaut. This show is both for children & adults. If you like magic don‘t miss this wonderful show. I would definitely will go and see other performers.

What a great show! Overall, the magic was fun to watch and very entertaining. But the reason I’m giving this show five stars rather than four is for the host last night, Harrison Greenbaum. He literally had the entire audience laughing their butts off. Whenever he was on stage I didn’t want him to leave. He performed a handful of tricks which were very entertaining, but his comedy was terrific and incorporated in his tricks. Much of it was on the spot and involving the audience. Very impressive!
Kudos to all of the magicians for putting on such a great show. The finale was very well done. Jason Bishop was the headliner and he is an excellent illusionist. His silght of hand with cards is out of this world!
I plan to come back for another show with a different lineup and definitely plan to see Harrison Greenbaum at one of his stand up comedy sets!

Great great show. It was so good! The host was really funny and helped keep the mood during the changing of the magicians. I would recommend this to all my friends looking for something different on a Monday night.

I came here on a first date with my current girlfriend and it is safe to say that we both liked it a lot.
I came here when I heard Rocco the world renown sleight of hand magician was going to perform. Note that every performance has different magicians so you can come back again and you won’t be seeing the same show you saw before. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see Rocco (my friend is an amateur magician and he says great things).
My favorite act was actually the young illusionary magician who performed last. Very charming and funny guy.
The whole show is good for children and adults alike who are interested in some light hearted magic. I definitely recommend.
Also, beware the seating options. I had an option to pay a couple more dollars from 69 to 79 dollars to upgrade to front row a VIP seat… I thought it was like getting first class on a plane where there were more leg room and VIP stuff. IT IS NOT. I got a pull a pull up chair on the front row (the first two rows are pull up chairs) and I kid you not, I think I would have preferred the Premium seats for 69 dollars because they came with arm rests.
Response to business owner: Thanks for clarifying since I didn’t actually have the benefit of trying both of them. I guess the VIP seats do sound better now that you clarified it.

Great acts and they are very funny. Amazing how these tricks are done. Theater is small but its worth getting tickets up front. You may get pick to come up stage sometimes. I hope to come back soon.
Only poor part of the acts were sometimes the person getting on stage messes it up when they try too hard to be silly. On the September 8^th show the blonde tall lady screwed up the act for everyone because she wanted to act silly and not follow directions. I felt so bad or the magician he could finish it properly due to her foolishness. I hope she gets to read this…

Super fun! $ 40 isn’t the cheapest show but this is solid entertainment and an awesome option if you can’t afford a broadway show or want something different than a movie. I am a huge magic fan and we finally went and had the best time. The line up changes every week so check it out before to make see you know what you’re getting (ours was very comedy oriented and also had a juggler). Small lobby but big theater. There weren’t a lot of kids but the ones that were there were pretty annoying maybe they should have a separate show for kids. Also so awesome that they keep it going with close up magic during intermission! Can’t sit to go back!

Show was outstanding!
Came here for an 8pm show, made reservations that same day, which they actually ask for you to reserve two weeks in advance, but accommodated us anyway. From the outside, theater appears to be a «rinky dink» theater, but once inside theater is pretty decent. We had great seats to the show. Everything was well organized, very nice staff.
We thought it was going to be a basic magic show. we were wrong! from the time the host, Harrison Greenbaum took the stage until the very last act, we couldn’t stop laughing. It was comedy, mixed with magicians – Jon Stetson & David Corsaro & skilled juggler – Michael Dubois.
Some tricks had you trying to secretly figure out how they pulled them off, others had you just in pure amazement. Regardless, I will be back and bring some more people with me. Unfortunately it seems to run only on Mondays – not the most convenient, but very worth it! Works well as a creative date or night out with friends.

It was a great show… different magicians perform every Monday night. Truly a wonderful experience. Will go again in the future. If you like magic, you should check it out.
The producer of the show, Michael, is very nice and friendly. Also very accommodating. He helped us book our tickets when we needed to reschedule. I would say the staff, magicians are very professional. Overall a great experience… Love it!

Had a very good time. If you like magic, for the price you won’t be disappointed.
The place has a cozy, low-​key, old-​village feeling, so don’t expect anything like a David Copperfield show. But the performers here are plenty skilled. Will go back.