CHICAGO—It begins not with abracadabra or with smoke-and-mirrors but with magician Larry Hass stepping down from a beautiful parlor setting to greet audience members, one by one, in person. That comes across as friendly and effective because, when he asks audience members to join him on the stage of the Rhapsody Theater in Chicago, he can refer to them as “my friend.”
That interactive bonding with theatergoers before a show isn’t typical, but that’s not the only thing that makes this “Magical Life” stand out from other theatrical entertainments. Indeed, one of the big differences between Mr. Hass and other sleight-of-hand magicians is that he is actually a philosopher (with a Ph.D. in the subject), who taught the subject in academia before turning to the art of illusion.
