In close-up magic, you're part of the show.

No other branch of theatre requires you to be part of the performance. The actor does not invite you onstage to assist Macbeth. The musician does not need you to come up and join in the guitar solo. The soprano does not ask for aid in the middle of 'La Traviata.' Only the magician cannot function without an audience. It is the integral part of the show. Magic is the ultimate participatory art -- where the spectator is both the focus and the validation. Good magic makes the audience part of the play, where the theatre, in essence, is inside you.

No footlights, no distance.

With close-up magic, there are no giant boxes hiding secrets. There is no forty feet separating you and the magician. The cards go in your hands, you see the coins right under your nose. And miracles still happen. The words you'll hear most often coming out of a close-up magic show are,"Oh my god -- I was standing right there...!"

It is intimate, it is personal.

Close-up magic brings people together, because they all know they're seeing the same thing, with no camera tricks and no outtakes. It is the most personal entertainment in the theatre arts, because it happens one-on-one.

Informal or formal.

Brian performs close-up magic in informal walk-around settings, such as receptions or in lounges, where he is often totally surrounded by an audience -- yet objects still appear, disappear, levitate and change places! Or, audiences can be seated for a formal performance in the style of the Close-Up Room of Hollywood's famed Magic Castle, the  home of the Academy of Magical Arts, of which Brian has been a magician member since 1996.

To find out how you can have Brian doing small miracles for your party, establishment or organization, e-mail Brian for a consultation by going to the Contact page and sending him an e-mail!