The Ghost Experience

For the last little while, I've been pitching in on a secret project which is now no longer secret and I'm excited they're finally letting me talk about it. On Friday nights, starting April 25, we will be premiering The Ghost Experience. Jamie Stam — who has appeared many times on Magic@theCage and Magic at the Winchester, one of our favourite presenters — is exploring a much more serious and mysterious side of the human experience; what happens with those who are no longer with us, yet remain behind. It's a chilling, and yet somehow uplifting, affair.

The show will be every Friday night at a secret location in Downtown Toronto, which is only revealed to ticket holders (which means all tickets must be purchased in advance — you'll never find the door!). Doors open at 6:30, with dinner served up until 7:30. After dinner, everything changes.

Tickets | Additional Information | Like The Ghost Experience on Facebook

There is a special preview performance on Good Friday, April 18. If you would like to attend you can receive 50% off tickets using the discount code "goodfriday". 

This is strictly an 18+ event.

Wonderz @ Whistlers

I'll be performing at the end of the month at a new show, Wonderz @ Whistler's. The show is organized by Chris Westfall, who has appeared many times on Magic@theCage, so I guess it's my turn to repay the favour. The show is a dinner theatre experience where you have the opportunity to come in an hour early to eat, drink and be magical.

Tickets are available at ChrisWestfallMagic.com. Last month's show was sold out

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Television and Duct Tape

I was on Rogers Daytime Toronto in March talking about Magic@theCage. I performed what is probably my favourite trick these days.[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF10fXlgmGg?rel=0]

Magic@the Cage is still running every Tuesday & Sunday night at 7:00 PM. Information and tickets are available at www.abracadabaret.com

Moving On

Back in 2009, I took over the management of Abracadabaret (then Friday Night Magic) from its founders, James Biss & Dave Curran (as I've written previously). Since then, I've had the pleasure of working with a host of talented performers and genuinely splendid people from Toronto and abroad. At the end of April, I will be stepping down as the director, producer, coordinator and general boss person at Abracadabaret to explore some other projects. After five years, I am feeling the need to try something different. As explanations go, I realize that's not very satisfying. Much like the client that sounded like they wanted to book you and then decides they've "decided to go a different direction" which is code for anything from "you're too expensive" to "we've decided to dissolve the company and donate the proceeds to Rob Ford's re-election campaign."

However, the show will go on. A well-respected magician, psychic, hypnotist, children's entertainer and author, Mark Lewis, has agreed to take over. There will still be Magic@theCage twice a week, under Mr. Lewis' astute direction.

with Mark Lewis years ago at Friday Night Magic.

While I'm sure there will be changes, they can only be for the better. Mark is an extremely knowledgeable magician who has been at it for over half a century and cares deeply for magic as an art form. We're delighted that he is able to bring his decades of experience to this and other upcoming projects.

I'm not going far. I will still be performing (booking information is over at www.JamesAlan.ca). But as far as our public events go, you can get in touch with Mark directly.

See Mark Lewis performing as part of Wendy's Canada's #ExpectToBeAmazed ad campaign in 2013:

Pay no attention to the fact that this was posted on April 1.

Magic@theCage continues

We moved our weekly show to a new venue, and somehow made it twice a week, back in February. We've been going strong there for two months with all of our Sunday shows in March being sold out. Tomorrow night's show (Mar 30) is also sold out. We currently have tickets available for Tuesdays and Sundays in April and for our extra show April 30 with Vincent Hedan.

To round out the month, I received some survey results from guests at the show. Here are a few snapshots:

We hope to see you out at the show sometime soon.

Guest Post at Sharing Wonder

I have a guest post up at Sharing Wonder, the blog for Magicana, about a program I was involved with teaching magic for Lawrence Heights Middle School & Havergal College. You can go check it out here: