A opinião da FISM

Opinião abalizada da "equipa FISM" que assistiu a NOTHING TO HIDE.

NOTHING TO HIDE: PURE MAGIC

A apreciação a NOTHING TO HIDE escrita por Theresa Perkins foi publicada em 6 de Dezembro no MY ENTERTAINMENT WORLD e pode ser lida aqui.

Nela destaco a afirmação com que tal texto termina:

[...] the heart and soul behind Nothing to Hide is the talent of DelGaudio and Guimarães. Logic be damned – these two gifted magicians are a pure joy to watch.

Na revista SÁBADO

 

A revista SÁBADO publicada hoje apresenta uma reportagem com HELDER GUIMARÃES. Aqui se reproduzem as diferentes páginas nas quais o HELDER vem referenciado.

Estreia de "OS MÁGICOS"

Tem estreia prevista na RTP para o próximo domingo a série "OS MÁGICOS" conforme pode ser lido aqui.

ÚNICO, NÃO CONVENCIONAL, A NÃO PERDER!

"Há os espectáculos de magia típicos e há NOTHING TO HIDE" é o que se pode ler aqui.

NOTHING TO HIDE em NY

 

Mais uma notícia sobre NOTHING TO HIDE pode ser lida aqui.  

Nela destaco a seguinte afirmação: "Helder strikes one as a low-key Roberto Benigni."

JOAN FONT PONS

JOAN FONT PONS é um "señor" da magia espanhola! E um bom amigo também!

EL PERIODICO do passado dia 27 dedicou-lhe uma reportagem, a qual pode ser lida aqui.

No JORNAL DE NOTÍCIAS

 

Na edição de hoje do JN pode ver-se:

THE MAGIC OF THE THEATER

Neste artigo de duas páginas, publicado no OBSERVER, pode ler-se, a propósito de NOTHING TO HIDE, o seguinte:

"It is nearly impossible to describe the card tricks performed by Helder Guimarães and Derek DelGaudio in their show Nothing to Hide, which arrived last week at the Signature Center, because it’s entirely impossible for a layman to figure out how they pull off any of their feats.

Somehow a card an audience picks is found in a randomly selected, ship-in-a-jar-type bottle among the dozens lining the upstage wall. Somehow a card we watch one of the performers mark makes it into a cigar box another audience member has secreted someplace in the Signature’s lobby. In the finale, they do the same trick simultaneously, side by side, each playing to half the audience—and somehow the right card ends up in the opposite magician’s hand.

It’s legitimately astounding, and it’s presented engagingly. The two men share an easy rapport, and they’re certainly magicians for our dressed-down era, delivering their shtick with friendly, amused charm rather than all-knowing flourishes or faux-mystical hokum. Neil Patrick Harris, a noted magic enthusiast, directs them, and he continues to prove that he can do no wrong."

Agora também em francês...

 

O livro REFLEXOS da autoria de Helder Guimarães foi traduzido para francês e pode ser adquirido aqui.

An Evening with Guimarães & DelGaudio

O espectáculo NOTHING TO HIDE teve a sua génese num espectáculo realizado no MAGIC CASTLE (Peller Theater) intitulado "An Evening with Guimarães & DelGaudio". 

Na revista MAGIC de Outubro de 2012 foi publicada uma apreciação a tal espectáculo por Chris Philpott, a qual se encontra reproduzida aqui.

NOTHING TO HIDE - Prolongamento da temporada

 

A notícia do prolongamento da temporada de exibição de NOTHING TO HIDE em Nova Iorque pode ser lida aqui.

Mais uma crítica a NOTHING TO HIDE

Mais uma excelente crítica a NOTHING TO HIDE pode ser lida aqui.

Crónica de MEC

A crónica de Miguel Esteves Cardoso publicada na edição do Público de hoje.

Mais uma crítica a NOTHING TO HIDE

Mais uma apreciação ao espectáculo NOTHING TO HIDE pode ser lida aqui.

VARIETY noticia estreia de NOTHING TO HIDE

A notícia da VARIETY sobre a estreia oficial de NOTHING TO HIDE em Nova Iorque (que pode ser lida aqui) é ilustrada com uma fotografia onde está um dos mágicos que assistiu ao espectáculo (DAVID BLAINE).

Quem também esteve na estreia oficial de NOTHING TO HIDE em Nova Iorque foi a actriz portuguesa Benedita Pereira, a qual já manifestou a sua opinião, através dos seguintes tweets:

NY TIMES - Crítica a NOTHING TO HIDE

A crítica a NOTHING TO HIDE publicada no New York Times pode ser lida aqui.

Sobre esta crítica David Williamson escreveu no seu mural do FACEBOOK: 

"A terrific review of a wonderful show. Congrats to all involved." (sic)

DIVULGAÇÃO DE NOTHING TO HIDE

 

QUEM SÃO OS MELHORES?

Uma opinião sobre quem são os melhores mágicos de close-up da actualidade pode ser lida aqui.

ROCK-STAR MAGICIANS

Helder Guimarães e Derek DelGaudio apelidados de "Rock-Star Magicians"... aqui!

PLAYBILL

O programa do espectáculo NOTHING TO HIDE em Nova Iorque.

MÁGICO PORTUGUÊS NOS TRILHOS DA BROADWAY

Notícia publicada na edição de hoje do semanário GRANDE PORTO.

VENCER e... vencer

Reconheço que vencer é um verbo que pode ter vários significados, que resultam dos diferentes contextos em que o mesmo é empregue. Vencer um obstáculo que, à partida, parece ser intransponível é, naturalmente, motivo para "cantar vitória". Por exemplo, sempre que alguém atinge o ponto mais alto dos Himalaias, ouvimos dizer que conseguiu vencer o Monte Everest. Não há, neste caso, nenhuma competição em curso e, portanto, tal vencedor não corresponde a alguém que chegou lá acima primeiro do que outros.

No entanto, quando se faz referência a uma competição, o significado de vencer é um e um só: ser o primeiro dessa competição! Por exemplo, quando se está a falar da Volta a Portugal em Bicicleta e se refere que "o ciclista Fulano venceu na Senhora da Graça", queremos com isso expressar que esse ciclista foi o primeiro participante a cortar a meta na dura etapa referida.

Tenho verificado que, com alguma frequência, aos segundos e terceiros lugares de certas competições é dado o mesmo tratamento de vencedor que apenas o primeiro merece. E uma dúvida me assaltou: seria "culpa" do novo acordo ortográfico que, porventura, teria atribuído um novo significado ao verbo vencer?

Hoje encontrei uma evidência que a minha suspeita era infundada, pois os nossos vizinhos espanhóis (alguns, pelo menos) também adoptam idêntica "liberdade interpretativa" no significado de "ganador".

Ora vejamos. Recebi hoje um mail com a divulgação de um conferência do mágico americano Gregory Wilson em Espanha no qual se podia ler: 

"Con Gregory Wilson tendremos una conferencia llena de mucha magia, comedia, misdirection, magia improvisada y algo de pick-pocket de manos de alguien  que es dos veces ganador del FISM mundial." (sic)

Ao ler isto as "campainhas da minha memória" começaram a soar, pois, tanto quanto me lembrava, Gregory Wilson (apesar de ser um excelente mágico como tantos outros que nunca venceram na FISM)  nunca se tinha sagrado Campeão Mundial de Magia, tendo obtido, em Cartomagia, um terceiro e um segundo lugares em dois congressos mundiais FISM consecutivos. Uma consulta a esta página da FISM permitiu confirmar que a minha memória não me traíra.

Esperemos que o próximo acordo ortográfico que venha a ser estabelecido encontre uma maneira de diferençar o "VENCER" que se refere ao primeiro duma competição do "vencer" que se refere aos segundos e restantes. Talvez a utilização de maiúsculas e minúsculas (como fiz na frase precedente) seja uma boa ideia.

A propósito da diferença entre ser primeiro e ser segundo recomendo esta bem-humorada visão de Jerry Seinfeld:

RED MIRROR EM JAPONÊS

RED MIRROR (de Helder Guimarães) com legendas em japonês.

Mágico português Helder Guimarães nos trilhos da Broadway com «Nothing to Hide»

Em http://www.verportugal.net/Porto/Porto/Noticias/Magico-portugues-Helder-Guimaraes-nos-trilhos-da-Broadway-com-Nothing-to-Hide=007109 pode ler-se uma notícia sobre NOTHING TO HIDE. Seguidamente se transcreve, com a devida vénia, o respectivo conteúdo.

Mágico português Helder Guimarães nos trilhos da Broadway com «Nothing to Hide»

Helder Guimarães, duplamente considerado pela Academia de Artes Mágicas de Hollywood como o Melhor Mágico do Mundo, vai ter o seu espectáculo «Nothing to Hide» em Nova Iorque já a 25 Outubro. No entanto, a estreia oficial acontece a 6 de Novembro, ficando em cena até 8 de Dezembro. Mais um marco importante numa carreira que tem tido uma ascensão fulgurante.

É mais um passo marcante na carreira do mágico português Helder Guimarães. O espectáculo «Nothing to Hide», um verdadeiro recorde de bilheteira, vai entrar nos trilhos da Broadway, em Nova Iorque. Após inúmeras repetições, assistências lotadas sem precedentes e quebrando vários recordes de bilheteria na Geffen Playhouse, em Los Angeles, o espectáculo atravessa o continente americano e chega a Nova Iorque, onde estreia a 25 de Outubro e permanece em cena até 8 de Dezembro.

Helder Guimarães (2011 e 2012 Parlour Magician of the Year) criou o espectáculo com Derek Delgaudio, e ambos são os protagonistas deste show, que tem encenação assegurada por um vencedor de um Emmy Award, Neil Patrick Harris. "Helder é um mestre, um intelectual hilariante, e um verdadeiro cavalheiro. Trabalhar com ele é um verdadeiro privilégio. É aberto a sugestões, notavelmente altruísta, e está sempre disposto a melhorar. É tudo o que um encenador quer”, considera Neil.

Com apenas trinta anos de idade, o mágico português, que actualmente vive em Los Angeles, nos EUA, já venceu por duas vezes o Prémio de Mágico do Ano, considerado como o “óscar” da magia. O sucesso de «Nothing to Hide» foi uma alavanca para a conquista deste prémio, uma vez que o espectáculo recebeu rasgados elogios da crítica especializada e conquistou espectadores como Eva Mendes, Maria Sharapova, Barbara Streisand, Steve Martin, Aziz Ansari, Ryan Gosling, JJ Abrahams, Zack Galafinakis, Jimmy Kimmel ou Aimee Mann.

Currículo

Nascido em 1982, no Porto, Helder Guimarães começou muito cedo a mostrar apetência pela magia e prestidigitação, tendo feito uma primeira apresentação pública logo aos quatro anos. Com apenas 12 anos já participava em competições nacionais e internacionais.

Em 2004, tornou-se o primeiro português a ganhar o Prémio Ascanio, o mais prestigiado prémio nesta área em Espanha, que é a maior potência a nível mundial na área da prestidigitação. De realçar que foi o primeiro não-residente em Espanha a consegui-lo.

Mais tarde, em 2006, sagrou-se Campeão Mundial de Magia com Cartas, na Suécia, sendo o primeiro e único português a alcançar esse galardão. Este foi um momento que fez catapultar a carreira de Helder Guimarães, que a partir daí começou a realizar espectáculos um pouco por todo o mundo.

Duas opiniões sobre NOTHING TO HIDE

Com a devida vénia, se transcrevem duas opiniões expressas a propósito do espectáculo NOTHING TO HIDE.

"We have all become jaded disbelievers. To see Nothing to Hide is to be reminded of one of the greatest joys in life: that it is still possible to be amazed. To witness with your very own eyes feats which you know are patently, infuriatingly impossible. This show is a sweet, funny, artful celebration of the craft. I've seen it multiple times. You really should, too." -JJ Abrams

"Wonder and curiosity are two of the most inspiring and noble emotions of the human experience. Nothing To Hide deeply taps into these, allowing us to truly resonate with what it is to be human. Joyfully so!" - Rick Rubin 

FALECEU JOHN CALVERT

Faleceu ontem o mágico americano JOHN CALVERT. Tinha 102 anos. Tenho orgulho em ter trabalhado como seu assistente no espectáculo MAGICARAMA que, no Verão de 1975, ele montou no Teatro Sá da Bandeira (Porto). Foi, para um jovem de 20 anos, uma experiência inesquecível, poder aprender "lições vivas" de "showmanship" de uma verdadeira LENDA VIVA DA MAGIA. Paz à sua alma. Como singela homenagem aqui deixo uma foto da época, que ele me dedicou.

CACHET DE MÁGICO...

Uma boa referência para cachet de mágico pode ser lida aqui. 

NOTHING TO HIDE EM N.Y.

 

NOTHING TO HIDE vai estar em cena em Nova Iorque, tal como se pode ler aqui.

Seguidamente se transcreve, com a devida vénia, o conteúdo de tal notícia.

Neil Patrick Harris is having quite the magical week! Fresh from his hosting duties at the Emmy Awards, the star will direct an off-Broadway engagement of Nothing to Hide, the unconventional magic show that broke box office records in Los Angeles. Starring magicians Derek DelGaudio and Helder Guimaraes, the production will play a limited engagement from October 23 through December 8 at the Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre in the Pershing Square Signature Center.

“After seeing Derek and Helder perform their amazing set at the Magic Castle I knew they needed to be seen by a wider audience,” Harris said in a statement. “My suspicions were right—it broke the Geffen Theatre's box office records in L.A. and extended 5 times! I couldn't be more pleased to now have a discerning New York theater audience get to experience Derek and Helder for themselves. I'm positively proud to present this pair of unprecedented prestidigitators. Say that 5 times fast…”

Nothing to Hide takes audience members on an imaginary journey through a series of diverse and engaging vignettes brought to life solely from the words and hands of two masterful magicians. The production originally opened November 27, 2012, at the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater in Los Angeles.

Guimaraes became the youngest World Champion of Card Magic at age 23. His one-man shows include The No-No Show, This is Not Normal and Incomplete. DelGaudio has performed at SoHo House, Art L.A. Contemporary, ART Annex and The Kitchen. Harris is a three-time Emmy Award winner and host of the 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013 Tony Awards. As an actor, he has appeared on Broadway in Proof, Cabaret and Assassins. He will headline the Broadway production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch beginning March 29, 2014, at the Belasco Theatre.

VICE-CAMPEÃO NÃO É CAMPEÃO

Até hoje só um português conquistou o título de Campeão Mundial de Magia: chama-se Helder Guimarães. Mas há (e haverá sempre...) gente que não consegue evitar a mentira.

CAPA DA MAGIC

A capa da edição de Julho 2013 da revista MAGIC.

PARA LER E MEDITAR

 

"Why do illusionists perform the same illusion?" é um texto para ler e meditar... Está em inglês e pode ser visto aqui.

45 MINUTOS À PORTO

Hoje, no Porto Canal.

REPORTAGEM NO PÚBLICO

 

Desenvolvida reportagem inserida no Jornal PÚBLICO de 22 de Abril de 2013

PARLOUR MAGICIAN OF THE YEAR 2012

 

HELDER GUIMARÃES conquistou, pelo segundo ano consecutivo, o prémio "PARLOUR MAGICIAN OF THE YEAR" atribuído pela AMA (Magic Castle). A notícia publicada no Jornal de Notícias pode ser lida aqui.

E aqui está a foto da varinha mágica...

... e do galardoado!

ENTREVISTA AO DN

 

Entrevista publicada, hoje, no Diário de Notícias.

ESTRELA NO PASSEIO DA FAMA

Atribuição de uma ESTRELA no Passeio da Fama de Hollywood a PENN & TELLER. E o HELDER GUIMARÃES esteve lá!... E não precisou de "se fazer convidado"...

NOTHING TO HIDE - Tweet de Max Maven

Max Maven assistiu, pela 3ª vez, a NOTHING TO HIDE e deixou no Twitter a sua opinião, a qual, seguidamente, se reproduz.

THE CASTLE AND THE CASTLE

Artigo da autoria de HELDER GUIMARÃES publicado na edição de Janeiro de 2013 da revista "THE MAGIC CIRCULAR".

NOTHING TO HIDE - Comentário de Tina Lenert

Derek DelGaudio anunciou, através do Twitter, o fim da temporada de NOTHING TO HIDE no Geffen Playhouse. O comentário de Tina Lenert a tal anúncio foi o seguinte:

Helder Guimarães na NOTÍCIAS MAGAZINE

A revista NOTÍCIAS MAGAZINE #1086 (incluída nas edições do Jornal de Notícias e do Diário de Notícias de 17 de Março de 2013) incluiu uma reportagem de duas páginas sobre Helder Guimarães intitulada A DAR CARTAS EM HOLLYWOOD. Tal peça jornalística pode ser lida em http://www.dn.pt/revistas/nm/interior.aspx?content_id=3113222.

Seguidamente transcrevo, com a devida vénia, o respectivo conteúdo.

A dar cartas em Hollywood

por Rui Pedro Tendinha

Fotografia de Brad Fulton

No ano passado, Hélder Guimarães venceu em Los Angeles o título de «Mágico de Salão do Ano». Agora está novamente nomeado. Em menos de um ano, o jovem portuense conquistou a América, mas por cá poucos sabem. O seu espetáculo, Nothing to Hide, em que mistura comédia e magia, esgota constantemente a Geffen Playhouse, em Hollywood, e pode ser visto até ao próximo sábado. O público rende-se. E as celebridades de Hollywood também.

Há coincidências difíceis de explicar. Ou se calhar é magia. No dia em que a Notícias Magazine está em Los Angeles para ver o espetáculo Nothing to Hide , no prestigiado Geffen Playhouse, um ilustre membro da realeza do cinema americano está esfuziante com o que acabou de ver e quer cumprimentar os artistas. Steve Martin, comediante, músico e dramaturgo, tem um fraquinho por ilusionismo. Também na fila para o beija-mão estão Benedita Pereira e Leonor Seixas, atrizes portuguesas a residir em Los Angeles. Tudo por causa de Hélder Guimarães, o ilusionista português que partilha o palco com Derek Delgaudio.

O espetáculo, que alia truques de cartas e interatividade hilariante com o público, nasceu de um número de magia no Magic Castle, o templo da magia em Hollywood, uma espécie de loucura mediática em Los Angeles. A brilhante encenação de Neil Patrick Harris - o mítico ator da série O Menino Doutor , que entretanto cresceu e agora encanta várias gerações em Foi Assim Que Aconteceu (How I Met Your Mother) - também ajuda. Casas esgotadas, crítica de imprensa tremendamente positiva («Derek e Hélder conseguem elevar a magia a um patamar de arte», lia-se na LA Weekly) e celebridades loucas com os truques de Guimarães, desde Ryan Gosling a Eva Mendes, passando por Maria Sharapova ou mesmo Barbra Streisand. Todos querem ver ao vivo aquela hora e meia de magia encenada com muito humor, onde Hélder faz de Hélder, ou seja, uma persona de si próprio que brinca com orgulho com as origens portuguesas.

Com um cenário discreto, a peça, a performance ou o show , o que quer que seja, vive de um diálogo entre os dois mágicos que passam grande parte do tempo a apresentar os maiores truques de cartas alguma vez vistos ao vivo e a meterem-se com o público. «Mais importante do que enganar o público, para mim, tudo passa por transmitir emoções e trocar ideias. Sendo completamente honesto, o meu interesse em enganar as pessoas que estão na sala está na mensagem que estou a transmitir. Uma mensagem que tem de ser mais forte do que o engano. O próprio espetáculo fala disso. Não há nada a esconder, conforme o título...» Por isso não se aborrece quando alguém lhe diz, no final, que percebeu como o truque foi feito. «O único problema é se perdem o objetivo do espetáculo.»

Apesar de ter apenas 30 anos, este emigrante de sucesso já se sente veterano. Desde os 4 anos que explora o mundo da ilusão, ao lado do pai, engenheiro eletrotécnico que fazia magia como hobby . Corre a lenda, entre a comunidade americana de mágicos, que algumas habilidades de Hélder com um baralho são únicas. «Tem tudo que ver com prática. Desde os 12 anos que estou sempre com um baralho de cartas. Ao estudar, quando era miúdo, estava sempre com as cartas na mão.» E põe a mão no bolso para tirar um baralho. Com 23 anos, venceu o prémio World Champion Card Magic (as olimpíadas da magia) e agora está no trono da magia internacional. E no ano passado a Academia de Artes Mágicas de Hollywood considerou-o o «Mágico de Salão do Ano», título que pode renovar já em abril. «Está tudo a acontecer porque acreditam no meu trabalho», diz no final do espetáculo, com um sotaque tripeiro que faz questão de não disfarçar. «Claro que ser tudo em menos de um ano é surreal! Estava no momento certo com o trabalho certo. Trabalhei muitos anos para isto... Neste momento, com tanta visibilidade, começamos a ter contacto com outras áreas. Estamos a ver como vamos lidar com isso.»

Inevitavelmente, o facto de estar em Hollywood leva-o a pensar em voos mais altos, como o cinema ou um formato televisivo. Para já, juntamente com a namorada portuguesa, quer apenas continuar a desfrutar do sol de Los Angeles e continuar a beber um copo de vinho no camarim com Steve Martin. Isto apesar de o espetáculo - cuja temporada termina no próximo sábado - seguir depois para a Broadway, em Nova Iorque.

NOTHING TO HIDE - Um dos melhores espectáculos de magia de todos os tempos

"NOTHING TO HIDE é um dos melhores espectáculos de magia de todos dos tempos" é o título da crónica que pode ser lida aqui.

Seguidamente se transcreve, com a devida vénia, o respectivo conteúdo.

LAST CHANCE: ‘Nothing to Hide’ is one of the best magic shows of all time

LOS ANGELES — When Derek DelGaudio and Helder Guimarães looked me straight in the eye, I couldn’t help but get nervous. They offered me the chance to choose a card, any card — a proposition that’s fairly typical for magic acts. With a theater full of people looking at my careful choice, I hesitated for a split second, mostly out of fear that this was going to lead to some annoying audience-participation bit.

But this was different. The two magicians, who are finishing up an extended, sold-out run of their hit show Nothing to Hide, didn’t want a typical “magic” moment. You know, the ones where the performer asks the crowd to “give it up” for the nervous audience member. We know that routine all so well: “What’s your name?” “Where are you from?” Then, a couple more jokes later, presto!

Helder Guimarães in ‘Nothing to Hide’ 

at the Geffen Playhouse — Photo courtesy of Michael Lamont

No, DelGaudio and Guimarães were after something deeper. My careful selection of that playing card was an affirmation of my decision to enter this mysterious fray. They offered me the chance to choose any card, and they even allowed me to change my mind. It doesn’t take a conjurer to predict that the two performers were able to summon my chosen card with ease. The final reveal elicited well-earned “oohs” and “aahs,” and the obligatory round of applause.

Most magic shows would move on to the next act, but DelGaudio and Guimarães did the entire scene over again. I chose another card, once again had the option of changing my mind, and then another final revelation: The card from the earlier “trick,” seemingly untouched under an empty glass, had somehow morphed into the card from the second “trick.” The performers had blown my already-blown mind, and Nothing to Hide was only a few moments into its 65-minute duration.

The show, which began at The Magic Castle in Hollywood, is one of the only examples of a new method of magic appreciation and application. Call it existential magic — a theatrical art form that welcomes self-reflection. Perhaps it’s best described as an event somewhere in that hazy area between Penn & Teller and Ricky Jay.

The show winds its way through a framework of sleight-of-hand tricks that give complete control to the audience (or so we’re meant to believe). DelGaudio and Guimarães want to make sure that their revelations are rightfully shocking. They up the ante (or “raise the bar,” as Guimarães says) to make sure we are satisfied with our choices. They work in collective decision-making, randomness and the ability to modify.

They’ll go to one audience member and ask a question. But then they’ll debate whether that’s “good enough.” Perhaps the person is a plant. Perhaps this solitary example will fail to impress. So they look around the theater and start asking questions to everyone. At one point, a trick involves more than a dozen people — all simultaneously wowed by the results.

As Nothing to Hide progresses, one gets the feeling of resurrection, a phoenix rising from the ashes of an industry in need of some adrenaline. The two performers know of the jaded perception that magic holds in the world (they reference it in the show). For DelGaudio and Guimarães to divert from the well-worn path is welcoming, but for them to consciously bring us through the thought process on why they’ve veered so far off course is revelatory.

The show earns laughs and smiles, and that’s chiefly because of the banter between the two performers. At times they compete with each other (the opening chess match is superbly crafted), and other times they play off each other’s cultural differences (Guimarães is a native of Portugal). They seem brought together less out of comfort and compatibility, and more out of shared interests. Each performer retains his uniqueness: DelGaudio perhaps a little more reserved; Guimarães perhaps a little more open.

Helder Guimarães and Derek DelGaudio — Photo courtesy of Michael Lamont

Directed by Neil Patrick Harris, Nothing to Hide will conclude its run at the Geffen Playhouse’s intimate Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater on March 31 (the theater is not quite intimate enough; they’ll need an extremely small venue in New York City to strike lightning twice). The staging is simple and effective. A square table, a backdrop of cards stuck in glass bottles, a few props on the side, a rope hanging down seemingly ready to toll a distant bell — that’s it. It’s up to the performers to fill in the blanks, to populate the stage. The fact that they achieve their lofty goals is something to cherish. The fact that they do so without compromising their dedication to their individuality is astonishing.

With thoughts of how they chose my card two times in a row, I continued to let Nothing to Hide weave its way into my brain long after the final blackout. I’m unable to shake that experience. It can’t be classified as magical; it’s far too realistic, scarily realistic.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

NOTHING TO HIDE - Tweet de Chris Kenner

Chris Kenner (que é "apenas" Produtor Executivo e Consultor Mágico de David Copperfield...) assistiu a NOTHING TO HIDE e deixou a sua opinião no seguinte tweet:

NOTHING TO HIDE - Último prolongamento da temporada

A temporada em cena de NOTHING TO HIDE no GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE foi, novamente, prolongada (até 31 de Março de 2013). 

Este é último prolongamento da temporada de NOTHING TO HIDE devido a compromissos da sala com outra produção. Os recordes de bilheteira obtidos para aquela sala intimista do GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE são dignos de realce!

Tal informação pode ser lida aqui.

Seguidamente se reproduz, com a devida vénia, o respectivo conteúdo.

NOTHING TO HIDE Closes 3/31 in Los Angeles

By: Kelsey Denette

After breaking box office records for single highest sales day ($34,348) and highest weekly box office gross (over $91,000) in the the history of the intimate Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater, Nothing to Hide featuring Derek DelGaudio (2011 Close-Up Magician of the Year) and Helder Guimarães (2011 Parlour Magician of the Year) and directed by Neil Patrick Harris, must close on March 31, 2013 after four months of sell-out performances. The production must close due to the Geffen's scheduled run of Neil LaBute's highly anticipated world premiere adaptation of August Strindberg's Miss Julie which begins previews in the Audrey on April 23, 2013.

The sleight-of-hand performance earned acclaim from every major critical outlet including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Variety. Nothing to Hide will have tripled its originally announced run, marks the fifth production in the Audrey to extend since 2009 and comes on the heels of three extended productions last year alone.

"We had our first public performance only a few days after Thanksgiving last year," recalls DelGaudio, "and Helder and I are grateful to have had the opportunity to work together for four months in the beautifully intimate Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater."

Artistic Director Randall Arney commented, "What a thrill it is to see audiences respond to Nothing to Hide with as much excitement as we do. Neil, Derek and Helder, all amazing talents, have collaborated to create a unique, artful and mind-blowing evening that theater-goers will be talking about for a long time. We love these guys."

Performances of Nothing to Hide continue through March 31 only; audiences are encouraged to book early as performances are expected to sell-out quickly now that the final closing date has been announced.

Helder Guimarães nomeado para Prémio AMA (Magic Castle)

Pelo segundo ano consecutivo, Helder Guimarães está entre os nomeados para PARLOUR MAGICIAN OF THE YEAR!!! Esta nomeação é, por si só, uma grande honra. 

Seguidamente reproduzo a lista dos nomeados nas diversas categorias.

CLOSE UP

Derek DelGaudio

Andrew Goldenhersh

Bill Goodwin

Armando Lucero

David Regal

PARLOUR

Chris Capehart

Michael Carbonaro

Helder Guimaraes

Derek Hughes

Phil Van Tee

STAGE

Mike Caveney

Pop Haydn

Chipper Lowell

Shoot Ogawa

Rob Zabrecky

LECTURE

Harry Anderson

Rafael Benatar

John Carney

Joe Monti

Shoot Ogawa

Entrevista a Derek DelGaudio e Helder Guimarães no Huffingtonpost

Aqui pode ler-se mais uma entrevista aos protagonistas de NOTHING TO HIDE. Seguidamente reproduzo, com a devida vénia, o conteúdo de tal entrevista, realizada por Sasha Bronner.

Derek DelGaudio & Helder Guimarães, 'Nothing To Hide' Stars, Take Over The City: My LA (PHOTOS)

Many Angelenos would call LA a magical city, but the actual culture of magic has a ravenous fan base in the city of Angels. Derek DelGaudio and Helder Guimarães' two-man show at the Geffen Playhouse, "Nothing To Hide," illustrates this point to a tee. Directed by Neil Patrick Harris, the show has taken the city by storm, selling out night after night and receiving an extra 9-week extension.

DelGaudio, 28, was born in Huntington Beach, Calif. but grew up in Colorado Springs, Colo. Guimarães, 30, sports a fantastic accent from his hometown of Porto, Portugal. They are both magicians at the height of their careers, performing top shows at LA's Magic Castle and other venues all around the world. Neil Patrick Harris saw the two perform together at the Castle (he's te President of the Board) and immediately reached out to get them to do a show at the Geffen Playhouse. Turns out he has quite an eye for talent -- the show has received rave reviews from practically every news outlet and some patrons are even returning to experience the show for a second time.

Many of us at The Huffington Post have now seen the show and HuffPost LA wanted to make sure we grabbed these two before they slipped through our fingers -- or worse -- vanished entirely.

The Huffington Post: I saw "Nothing To Hide" and jokingly titled my review of it "I Don't Like Magic." What do you think are some of the biggest stereotypes about magic that keep some people from engaging in it?

Derek DelGaudio: I am never surprised when I hear someone say, “I don’t like magic.” However, I have come to realize, in most cases, what they actually mean is, “I don’t like magicians.” Magic suffers from its practitioners. If someone doesn’t like magic, it almost certainly stems from seeing a bad magician, which there are plenty.

Helder Guimarães: I think most people think magic is cheesy or antiquated. It is very difficult to convince them to abandon the misconception that magic is about fooling them. When someone goes to a magic show to find how the magician does what he does, they are missing the point of being in the room.

Tell me about each of your first experiences at The Magic Castle.

DelGaudio: I was 15 years old. I sat out front while my older friends went in and hung out. After a few hours, they came out and gave me a bowl of chili. Then they went back in and I waited some more.

Guimarães: I was invited to perform there in 2007. As a kid, back in Portugal, I was always thinking about one day being able to perform there so I was thrilled when I received the invitation. Since that moment, the Castle as always been a special place for me.

What were you both like as children?

DelGaudio: Shy, but outspoken. Friends with many, but didn’t belong to a particular group. A daydreamer and a chronic underachiever.

Guimarães: As a child, I wasn't a child at all. I started doing magic when I was four and that says it all. I was shy and always felt more comfortable on the stage. At one point in my childhood I wanted to be a dentist, but after age eleven, I've always wanted to be a magician.

The moment you knew you wanted to be a magician?

DelGaudio: The moment I learned “magician” has more than one meaning.

Guimarães: I don't remember myself not being a magician. The moment I realized I wanted to only do magic was when I was eleven years old and saw Juan Tamariz, still today my favorite magician, perform live. He did an hour show with just a deck of cards and that for me was the purest experience of magic I've ever felt.

What was toughest about working on a two-man show?

DelGaudio: The biggest challenge with collaborating like we have is finding the balance between two artistic visions. Ironically, this balance is often what makes the work better.

Guimarães: It's always a challenge to work with someone else, even if the goals are similar, because it's always a compromise between two visions. I would say that we both believe in magic, but in different ways.

I personally believe in it as a concept that can be seen and experienced in very different ways but, as a craft, I like magic to be the combination of an intellectual deception and an emotional deception joined to create a unique moment.

Tell us about your daily lives. What is your creative process? Give us a crash course on the life of a magician. When do you get your best ideas?

DelGaudio: My days basically consist of a nonstop series of questions I ask myself, followed by my failed attempts to answer those questions. Occasionally (mostly late at night), I’ll answer half of one part of one question. Those days are the very good days.

Guimarães: There is no crash course to be a magician. Each one is different and everyone has probably a different method. I like to read, listen to talks in a variety of subjects that appeal to me and see movies and live shows. I like philosophy and try to make sure that all the projects I embrace have meaning and make up a part of who I am.

What music do you put on to get pumped up before a show?

DelGaudio: I didn’t know that was a thing. I will try that.

Guimarães: I wouldn't say "pumped" is the word, and I rarely listen to music before I go on stage. I actually prefer a few minutes of silence. But my favorite bands are Radiohead and a Portuguese band called Ornatos Violeta, and a project called Foge Foge Bandido.

Favorite meal at an LA restaurant?

DelGaudio: Kazu Sushi.

Guimarães: I have not been here time enough to make that call. Too much pressure.

Do you have a key to the Magic Castle? Is it like summer camp? Do you all hang out and have late night dinners there with goblets of wine?

DelGaudio: I think you’re thinking of Medieval Times.

Guimarães: I don't have the key because I lost it. Damn it!

What are some of the most important qualities a magician can possess?

DelGaudio: The best magicians I know are passionately, relentlessly, shamefully, desperately, brutally honest.

Guimarães: Knowledge, commitment and learning how to listen to others including fellow magicians, other performing artists and audiences.

Magic has a very strong community in Los Angeles. Why do you think that is? Where is your number one favorite place in the world to perform?

DelGaudio: The Castle certainly has a lot to do with that, but LA is pretty great, so it’s not surprising there is a sea of talent here. The Geffen is my favorite place to perform, as of now.

Guimarães: I think the Castle has a lot to do with that gathering of people interested in magic. I love to perform in the United States, Spain, Argentina and Japan. Very different audiences from each, but very fun ones overall. But if I had to pick a favorite place, it would still be the place I started performing regularity in. It's called Tertúlia Castelense, near my hometown Porto.

Do you have significant others, and if so, are you always playing tricks on them?

DelGaudio: Yes. No.

Guimarães: I do, but we leave magic out of the equation for most of the time.

"Nothing To Hide" has been extended for nine extra weeks. Do you have any theories about why this show has been so wildly popular? People are flocking to it!

DelGaudio: I think it’s very simple: People love magic, deeply. This show reminds them.

Guimarães: I believe that when people see real magic they really like it. It's an experience that differs from any other thing you can see and experience. I think that's the feeling people get after seeing our show.

We've heard that celebrities like Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes were seen trying to get a spot at the 50-seat theater for your joint show at The Magic Castle. Who makes you star-struck in LA?

DelGaudio: Hmm … I’m not sure I would be “star-struck” as much there are folks I’d love to sit down and chat with. Steve Martin. Artist Chris Burden. JJ Abrams. Quentin Tarantino. Louis C.K.

Guimarães: We had a common friend call them and say, "You have to see this or we are not friends anymore!" They came and they loved it. When you like magic, you like magic. Doesn't matter if you are famous or not. Maria Sharapova came to see our show and at the end asked us to take a picture with her. It sounds ridiculous but, if you think about it, it's not.

There is such a sense of wonder in your show -– I'm sure you hear it every day, but I just could not believe my eyes. What brings out that sense of wonder in you?

DelGaudio: Good art often blows me away. A great live show can really do it for me. "Absinthe" in Vegas kicked my ass. Also, "The Book of Mormon" rocked my world.

Guimarães: Absolutely. There are so many great things about the world we live in that is a shame that they are so covered in bullshit and uninteresting content. But now, in an era where information circulates at the speed of light, we can search for the information we are interested in and enjoy it.

Let’s just say it: you are considered two of the world's most gifted sleight-of-hand artists. When did you know you had made it?

DelGaudio: “Made it?” Not even close. Hell, I’m just getting warmed up.

Guimarães: I think of my life as a process, that's still in the middle. So, I would answer those questions in the future.

What is next for both of you?

DelGaudio: “Nothing to Hide” will most likely be going to New York and I have a few projects I am very excited to begin.

Guimarães: Life.

Benedita Pereira assistiu a NOTHING TO HIDE

A conhecida actriz portuguesa Benedita Pereira, que actualmente reside em Nova Iorque, aproveitou uma deslocação a Los Angeles para assistir a NOTHING TO HIDE. Este foi o testemunho deixado através do Twitter e que pode ser visto na respectiva página do Facebook:

NOTHING TO HIDE - Neirdist Podcast

Podcast sobre NOTHING TO HIDE (com Neil Patrick Harris, Derek DelGaudio e Helder Guimarães) pode ser ouvido em http://www.nerdist.com/2013/02/nerdist-podcast-neil-patrick-harris-derek-delgaudio-and-helder-guimaraes/

100 x NOTHING TO HIDE!...

Finalmente a esperada marca... 100!

Que não foi esquecida pelo GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE!

E que mereceu a contracapa do LA WEEKLY.

E o novo prolongamento da temporada até 10 de Março também mereceu a seguinte referência:

Entrevistas aos protagonistas de NOTHING TO HIDE

No website HOLLYWOOD SOAPBOX foram publicadas entrevistas individuais com Helder Guimarães e Derek DelGaudio.

A entrevista a Helder Guimarães pode ser lida aqui. Seguidamente se transcreve, com a devida vénia, o respectivo conteúdo.

From Portugal to L.A. — Helder Guimarãres is ready for some magic

The promos for the Geffen Playhouse’s hit magic show, Nothing to Hide, have stars Derek DelGaudio and Helder Guimarãres looking out from the posters like two convicts ready for a mugshot. They’re bruised and bloody, with DelGaudio holding a cigarette to his mouth and Guimarãres about to enjoy what looks like a double scotch. It’s a perfectly odd poster, and what may catch the spectator off guard are the stares of each performer. It’s almost as if they’re looking at the world, directly into the eyes of anyone glancing their way. There’s a mystery there, something beckoning from behind the red-framed glasses of Guimarãres and the sucker-punched eye of DelGaudio.

There’s a feeling of enticement, of something being hidden. In other words, they’re welcoming the audience to a different type of magic show, one that both honors the tradition of the art form and turns it on its head.

Consider yourself invited.

The evolution of Nothing to Hide was “kind of surprising and organic at the same time,” Guimarãres said recently during a phone interview. “I was moving from Portugal to L.A., and I ended up arriving in the beginning of 2012.”

The former World Champion of Magic had moved to Los Angles at a most auspicious time for magic. The famed Magic Castle, the Mecca of magic in the world, was preparing for a grand reopening after a devastating fire. DelGaudio was booked  to perform with another magician, but soon enough Guimarãres was asked to fill in after circumstances changed.

“The initial plan and the initial idea was we were going to do like our separate repertoires,” he said. “Derek was going to do his, and I was going to do mine. And then because we had just … three days to come up with something, we decided wouldn’t it be cool if we could do at least one thing together. So at least it feels different and it feels special.”

That initial conversation has blossomed into a Cinderella success story. With only a couple days before the premiere, the two magicians kept adding material to their routines. “And then we realized, we were like, oh, we should do the whole show together,” Guimarãres said. “When the day comes, we do the show together, and it was immediately a huge success at the Castle, and people talking with other people, saying you have to see this. And lines start forming.”

Their two-night stint expanded into a full weekend of shows, then more shows and more shows. Eventually, the magicians attracted the interest of the Geffen Playhouse and Neil Patrick Harris (who serves as director of the transferred show), and they’ve been playing an extended run since November. Tickets are currently on sale through March 3. Plans for a future life in another American city are possible.

Guimarãres is not new to success in the magic world. In 2006, he won the World Championship of Magic in cards. “After that I started traveling around the world and getting invitations to perform almost everywhere you could possibly imagine,” he said. “I start knowing the world and meeting people and feeling empathy with some places and not others. You know, just like growing up and living.”

He specifically came to Los Angeles to see the Magic Castle, a place he heard about when growing up around the magic world. He met some friends on these early trips to Los Angeles, including DelGaudio. “And eventually because of different circumstances, I felt that I belonged here,” he said. “And that’s just a feeling you have like a gut feeling, more than any other thing. It’s less rational and more emotional than any other thing. … I’ve always loved being here. I think my work has always been very well received here. So I said, why not? Why not just try and move to L.A. and see what happens.”

For most of his professional life, Guimarãres has performed solo, although he collaborated with magicians during the development phase of several acts.

Now, more than a year after the original shows of Nothing to Hide, Guimarãres can’t seeing doing the show without DelGaudio. “It’s one of those things that we couldn’t do it alone,” he said. “There are certain types of approaches that if you try to do it alone, it just doesn’t work. It’s not the same. That is one of the beauties of this show. … We created the show together. It makes no sense that other two magicians would do this show. It can only actually be done by both of us.”

Guimarãres said it’s been interesting to see some audience members at the Geffen transform their perceptions. They might enter the theater expecting something strictly theatrical, and they leave with a deeper appreciation of the magical. “They enter to see one thing; they see another one, and they love it,” he said. “So that’s just a very beautiful experience. And sometimes (they) even come out of the show saying, ‘I didn’t know magic was like this. You know, I thought magic was a different thing.’ So that’s a really good experience to listen to someone saying those words. As a magician, it’s just amazing.”

The magician, whose roots go back to Portugal, said he is fortunate to have found success in this artistic field. “I’m very particular about my choices of what I want to do and what I focus energy on,” he said. “I think I have a very … strong belief system about what I should do with my life and what I want to do with my life.”

One choice he made more than a year ago is still paying off, and audiences are still transforming, likely confounded and amazed by carefully calculated sleight-of-hand acts. Like the poster for Nothing to Hide, with the performers bruised and bloody, there’s that inviting, mysterious stare. It’s a promise of something different.

By John Soltes

A entrevista a Derek DelGaudio pode ser lida aqui. Seguidamente se transcreve, com a devida vénia, o respectivo conteúdo.

Derek DelGaudio, star of new Geffen show, has ‘Nothing to Hide’ … or does he?

It all started at The Magic Castle, the mysterious private club in Hollywood that hosts the best magicians in the world. After a damaging fire threatened to close the establishment for good, the members decided to hold a grand reopening. That’s when Derek DelGaudio, co-founder of the performance art duo A.Bandit, entered the picture.

“I was asked to work one of the showrooms as sort of like a reopening of the castle, with another magician, another friend of mine who is a great performer,” DelGaudio said recently during a phone interview. “I was reluctant, but it was a friend of mine who asked me to do it and then a friend of mine who was going to be the performer. So I thought, this will be a nice way to go back to the Castle.”

DelGaudio committed himself to the project and secured a spot in one of the intimate theaters of the legendary Magic Castle. And then problems began to occur. A few days after accepting, his friend dropped out of the show after receiving a part on a TV show.

“So I was like, uh…,” DelGaudio said. “There was really no one else I wanted to work with at the time. And it was just for a two-night show, and coincidentally my friend from Portugal, who I had known for a few years … decided to move to L.A. and be around The Magic Castle.”

That friend is Helder Guimarães, and the rest is magic history.

“So he agreed to step in, and so we threw a show together in like a week,” he said. “And it was the first time I did a show like this together or any show together, and the reaction was crazy. People really enjoyed it.”

The response to the duo act was tremendous, so much so that scoring a coveted seat at The Magic Castle for the original run was nearly impossible. That’s when plans were set in motion to take the show to the Geffen Playhouse’s intimate Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater, where Nothing to Hide has been playing to sold-out crowds for a couple of months. Ticket sales have been so brisk that the Geffen has extended the play through Feb. 24.

Details on the show are best kept hidden, but the Geffen promises “engaging vignettes brought to life solely from the words and hands of two masterful magicians.”

“I’ve always thought magic and mystery and wonder is an amazing thing, and the only thing that stands in the way of people appreciating it are the people that are presenting it,” DelGaudio said. “So I’m not surprised that when you work hard, put a lot of love and effort into presenting a good project, put a good show together, I’m not surprised that people respond to it positively. But I’m surprised at how positive it has been.”

Throughout the show’s evolution, the performance piece has expanded and added a famous director: Neil Patrick Harris, star of How I Met Your Mother and president of the Academy of Magical Arts. “Neil has always been a believer in magic in the best sense,” DelGaudio said of his director. “He’s able to see the world through a child’s eyes and present that. … He’s been shepherding this onto this larger platform, and he’s just super supportive. He gets me, he gets us, he gets our show. And he also is super seasoned, where I tend to think more abstractedly or conceptually about the ideas and what I want to say and do, and maybe not thinking about the practicality of the situation, Neil is always the first to kind of let me know the reality of the situation.”

The transition of the sleight-of-hand show from The Magic Castle to the Geffen took some time and hard work. “We had a real punk rock vibe at the Castle and it was an educated crowd, and even the people who weren’t educated, they were in an environment where they were informed by the people around them,” he said. “I mean when we did this at the Castle, we had people waiting in line for four hours or more to see us. It was like when Space Mountain opened at Disneyland. So we didn’t really need to do much other than go out and do a great job. But at the Geffen, people see some of the best performers, best directors, best writers in the world work on that stage. So we were playing against Pulitzer Prize-winning authors and directors … It’s a different level, and we’re graded on a different curve. But I’m very proud that our show can stand on a stage that has those types of credits and those types of talents working on it. It’s pretty amazing.”

DelGaudio admitted that his love for the craft came much later in life, although he appreciated the “romance” of magic as a child. Today, he’s grown into a diverse performance artist, one that tries to redefine the definition of magic in 2013. “I’m always trying to not let what the word magician means necessarily apply to me,” he said. “I’m trying to create it for myself.”

Now, several months after he was first pitched the idea of working again at The Magic Castle, DelGaudio finds himself attached to Guimarães as a performer. He can’t think of doing the show without his colleague by his side. “There’s no one else I could replace Helder with that I would trust on all of those levels and vice versa,” he said.

In the future, Nothing to Hide might jump across the country and set up its magic shop in New York City. “But after that, who is to say,” DelGaudio said. “We have different goals in a long-term sense. So it’ll also come from working apart. I think we’re taking it (on a) project-by-project basis. I don’t think we’re forming a duo, not like Penn & Teller or anything like that. But if another idea for a show came along, we would jump on the opportunity to work together, because we do work well together.”

For both magic enthusiasts and those on the fence about the craft, DelGaudio recommends giving Nothing to Hide a chance. “I believe that mystery really is a universal experience,” he said. “It’s something, if presented properly, is an inherent property that we are all drawn to and think is beautiful.”

By John Soltes 

NOTHING TO HIDE - Mais uma apreciação

Em http://centurycity.patch.com/blog_posts/blog-the-magic-of-theater-in-nothing-to-hide-at-the-geffen-playhouse pode ler-se a apreciação de Victoria Ordin ao espectáculo que Helder Guimarães e Derek DelGaudio protagonizam em Los Angeles.

Seguidamente reproduzo com a devida vénia a parte do post que se refere a NOTHING TO HIDE.

Blog: The Magic of Theater in "Nothing to Hide" at the Geffen Playhouse

Posted on February 8, 2013 at 11:36 am

When a play is extended four times, a theater lover in LA (if only part-time) almost has to buy a ticket. In my case, I bought a midseason subscription to the Geffen Playhouse and the ticket to Nothing to Hide and Coney Island Christmas--the funny, heartwarming Donald Marguiles play I saw twice--came with the subscription.

A rare January traffic jam in Santa Barbara kept me from the play directed by Neil Patrick Harris and compelled me to buy a ticket at the subscriber discount (62 rather than the unusually high 125). This past weekend, I had the great pleasure of seeing the show which has become the A-List ticket in LA for good reason. Nothing to Hide plays in the small theater where I saw Buildin November, but since then, they have put in stadium seating so it doesn't feel quite as small as it did.

[...]

Nothing to Hide is a mere 65 minutes which leaves you wishing the evening would continue at Napa Grille (where I always go after the show) with the equally charming Derek Delgaudio, an artist and magician who founded the experimental performance art duo, A. Bandit, and the Portuguese Helder Guimares, the youngest ever World Champion of Card Magic in 2006 at the age of just 23.

Delguadio reminds me a little of a young, thin Vincent D'Onofrio, striking a perfect balance between cockiness and self-deprecation. He's the guy you want your daughter to bring home to the Palisades from college instead of the robotic , cold premed student or the underachieving, dull gamer who listens to death metal all day long in spite (or perhaps because!) of his high IQ and good family.

Derek and Helder, as they call themselves, did schmooze briefly afterward but I became lost in reverie browsing the old Geffen theater posters by the restrooms and reminiscing about the Linda Lavin show in 1998 which was last the performance I saw before Build. By the time I wrenched myself back to 2013, everyone was gone. 

As a child, I attended a show or two at the Magic Castle with now TV writer/producer Chris Levinson (Charmed, Law and Order)—a classmate and friend from St. Augustine (an industry school in Santa Monica now known as Crossroads Elementary)--and her parents, writer/producer Richard Levinson (Columbo, Murder She Wrote) and stage actress Roseanna Huffman.

Some ten years later, my mother took me to a fundraiser at that strange, private and exclusive venue. I had therefore not been to a magic show, not even a cheesy, terrible one, as Derek quips this show is not in one of his sarcastic asides. Both have appeared at the Magic Castle where Neil Patrick Harris is President of the Academy of Magical Arts and “Nothing to Hide” made me long for an invitation to Hollywood's mecca of magic.

Derek and Helder have the kind of chemistry you expect from a classic comic duo together for decades. As I walked to my car, I had a big, dopey smile on my face because while their sleight of hand does indeed boggle the mind, I was genuinely touched by the only "message" moment of the play: Magic is all gone in a world with iPhones, iPads and 3D (paradoxically because these devices make the magical commonplace). That, as Derek put it, a bunch of people got “dolled up” and braved LA traffic on a Saturday night to sit in a small theater with complete strangers in the collective hope of witnessing something inexplicable and mysterious is a kind of magic in itself.

There were gestures in the direction of a message with the early mention of the distinction between the supernatural and the supernatural and the exhortation to look at things from a different and perhaps uncomfortable perspective, but these were not much pursued. As a literary critic by training (a Ph.D. Candidate in English at UCSB by way of Yale), I marveled at the subtlety with which the vignettes are woven together. The show is loosely structured with plenty of margin for error--ad libbing and riffing off the audience even at the Geffen with a heavy industry crowd is chancy--and yet inexorably comes together as a unity by the end.

Nothing to Hide is a kind of meta-play in that the conventional structure of a play with even a highly diffuse plot is immediately renounced in the opening scene : an entirely silent card cutting contest which contains more emotional content and character development than whole episodes of many TV shows (and certainly, the worthless reality shows littering cum defacing the television landscape).

Like much good art in which content and form are in dialogue, the play operates on two levelsNothing to Hide is about magic but it also asks how a play about magic can work at all. J.L Austin'sHow to Do Things with Words defined a performative utterance as one in which the language performed the action it described. The quintessential example was the “I do” in a marriage ceremony.

Years after Austin (via John Searle's theory of speech acts), performativity became hot in literary and critical theory. Ever so gently, the show conjures up the performative for an audience member like me with a literary critical background. Without being heavy-handed or ponderous, the show questions the categories of truth and falsehood and perhaps more important, the source of our attachment to the certitude those categories purportedly provide. 

Nothing to Hide continues through Feburary 24th and even at 125 dollars per ticket for non-subscribers (substantially higher than most Geffen shows), it's money well spent.

Luís de Matos é candidato a astronauta

Luís de Matos candidatou-se a uma viagem ao espaço. É isso que se pode ver no post que colocou no Facebook e que, com a devida vénia, seguidamente se reproduz.

Quem pretender contribuir para a concretização deste sonho poderá votar em https://www2.axeapollo.com/en_PH/20735/luis-de-matos?image=0

NOTHING TO HIDE - Apreciação de Sasha Bronner

Aqui pode ler-se mais uma apreciação ao espectáculo NOTHING TO HIDE.

Se já é curioso o título da crónica ("I Don't Like Magic"), mais curioso ainda é ler na mesma a seguinte afirmação: "My personal relationship with magic went from nonexistent to we're-in-love-his-and-her-sinks giddiness." (sic)

Com a devida vénia, transcrevo, seguidamente, o texto de tal crónica.

"I DON'T LIKE MAGIC"

I'm the first to admit it -- magic is not really my thing. Even though I grew up in Los Angeles, I have only been to the famed Magic Castle once in my life and it wasn't until I was 23 years old. The closest I get to enjoying magic comes in the form of watching Will Arnett's character on Arrested Development perform his atrocious "illusions."

And yet, two weeks ago, I caught wind of a show that has swept across L.A. called Nothing To Hide at the Geffen Theater in Westwood. The New York Times has called it "Brilliant!" "Ingenious!" "A roller coaster!" and Variety has exclaimed, "Marvelous!" "Amazing!" "Gasp again and again!"

I knew nothing more about it than what our senior editor, Willow Bay, had told me one day in the office which was something along the lines of, "It's a magic show. And it's amazing." Figuring at the very least I'd get a HuffPost L.A. story out of it, I secured tickets to (skeptically) see what the buzz was all about.

The show opened in November at the intimate Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen. Sold out night after night, Nothing To Hide has been extended for seven extra weeks. The who's-who of magicians have been spotted in the crowds, including Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller) and Siegfried Fischbacher (from Siegfried & Roy), but it's the ever-jaded L.A. crowd that's been left with their jaws dropping.

Walking into the theater on a rainy January night, my guard was already up. Magic schmagic. I arrogantly flipped through the playbill and read about the two men we were about to see perform. Turns out Derek DelGaudio and Helder Guimarães are two of the world's most gifted sleight-of-hand artists.

They have sold out shows at the Magic Castle consistently and have performed all over the world. Neil Patrick Harris saw them perform together at the Magic Castle and immediately jumped at the opportunity to direct them in a joint show at the Geffen Theater. And so here we are. The lights dim, classic moody rock music plays and the two men come onto the stage. The 110-seat room patiently waits.

The show is nothing short of astonishing. In a 65-minute performance consisting of nine vignettes (and no intermission), DelGaudio and Guimarães have their way with the audience like only two masters can. My personal relationship with magic went from nonexistent to we're-in-love-his-and-her-sinks giddiness. Their confidence, their bravado, their cockiness is palpable. They are young, they are funny and they are charming. I went from whispering in my mother's ear, "I'm not even trying to figure out how they are doing that" to sitting on the front edge of my seat with both hands clasping my cheeks Home Alone-style. There is no explanation for a quarter of what they show you on stage. At one point in the show they leveled with the audience: "We know it's difficult to applaud when you're having your brain blown out of your ass."

So I'm just going to say it now: DelGaudio and Guimarães, will you marry me?