CHICAGO—“Amaze” is the perfect title for this amazing show! That’s because its star, Jamie Allan, goes beyond yesteryear’s trickery into a new modern-realm of wizardry. Indeed, this is not your typical sleight-of-hand show. Sure, Mr. Allan does card tricks and rips up newspapers that stay magically intact, but what singles him out from previous magicians is his engaging way of intersecting mind-boggling tricks with fascinating 21st-century technology. But there’s still more that makes Mr. Allan—who claims to be a magician, not an illusionist—stand out from the rest of the pack.
The British-born spellbinder conjures up the most riveting tricks with moments that are so incredulous that they defy explanation. He uses iPads, cell phones, cameras, laser beams, and psychedelic lighting to showcase dazzling moments of beguilement. He combines magic with technological innovations of the past decades. He notes that before the tech boom, there were no mobile phones and phone cameras, no iPads, and no computers that could talk to each other.
Furthermore, Mr. Allan has made “Amaze” a compelling biographical journey in which he isn’t so much performing on stage as he is having a friendly chat with friends. The charmer talks to theatergoers as if they were in his living room and they are all laughing and enjoying each other’s company. Indeed, this is a very interactive experience in which the audience seems to get a kick out of being part of the show.
He begins the presentation by telling us that every story has its date, and his tale begins in 1977, the year he was born in England. He goes on to explain that every life begins with a spark of imagination, as did his. “What did you aspire to become?” he asks the audience. “What was the pivotal moment of your life that made you who you are?”
The enchanter answers his own questions when he reveals why and how he turned to magic. The moment that changed his life, he says, took place when he realized that a magician’s job is not to fool people but to connect them with the wonders of their childhood.
Those bewitching experiences began for him when his parents, whom he mentions often, encouraged his interest in wizardry when they gave him a 1982 Fisher Price The Magic Show Box set for Christmas. That was the beginning of his lifelong obsession with magic. Both his parents were in show biz. His mother, Kay Kennedy, was a singer and his father, Alan James Nicklin, was a singer, songwriter, and bandleader, and they always encouraged the young Allan.
In between moments of sorcery, we see photos and videos of Allan as an 8-year old first performing magic tricks for his family, and then at his parents’ cabaret club in England. We follow him as he talks about how he discovered the first magic book published in 1584, a book that, though, few know about it, still exists. We hear about the advice his father gave him that you have to have a gimmick, which he took to heart when he combined magic with modern technology.
Mr. Allan not only gives credit to his parents for encouraging his creative passion, but he gives homage to the popular magicians that came before him such as Doug Henning, David Copperfield, and, of course, Harry Houdini.
Although Mr. Allan has many spellbinding tricks up his sleeve, there’s more to the charismatic bewitcher than meets the eye. He’s not just an entertainer, he’s a philosopher. He thinks that the people you meet can, and often do, make a difference in who you become, and change the trajectory of your life. Such a person for Mr. Allan was Apple founder Steve Jobs. Jobs, he said, is his inspiration because he had an ability to encourage people to become better and because he believed that one should not let others’ opinions drown out your own.
Like his hero, Mr. Allan is an original who seeks to inspire. He says that there are two ways of experiencing magic. One is that of a skeptic who watches it as a challenge to see if he can match wits with the magician and uncover his secrets, and the other is that of a childlike dreamer who appreciates what seems to be unexplainable and who is enchanted by the wondrous mystery of life.
