A trip to Hawaii, vanished volunteers, a psychic scorpion andextreme personal knowledge of individuals in the audience were afew of the spectacles at David Copperfield's Thursday-nightperformance of his world-famous show.
Copperfield, dressed in black paints, a white T-shirt, and ablue long-sleeved button-up shirt, began his performance by askingthose seated in Emens to shut their eyes.
"Imagine yourself any place in the world," Copperfieldinstructed in a soft and soothing voice. "You're all going to go toyour perfect place."
The stage was trimmed with multi-colored blinding lights as themagic of Copperfield bounced off the faces of the awe-struckaudience.
Junior Holly Frantz was chosen to take part in a trick involvingrubber gloves, a plexiglass box, playing cards and a black africanscorpion. Frantz also received an unexpected kiss on the cheek fromCopperfield, the winner of 19 Emmy awards.
"I was really nervous," Frantz said with an expression ofdisbelief.
Copperfield also shared a personal story about his childhoodthrough a short documentary of scratchy home videos andphotographs. He said his grandfather, whom he was once close with,stopped speaking to him when Copperfield decided to become aprofessional magician at the age of 14. They did not talk for thefinal three years of his grandfather's life.
"He (Copperfield's grandfather) said magic was a hobby,"Copperfield said before dedicating one of his magical spectacles tohis grandfather. Copperfield said he later discovered that hisgrandfather had gone to one of his performances after finding aticket stub from one of his previous shows in his grandfather'shome.
"He always wanted me to succeed, he just didn't want to see mefail," Copperfield said.
One illusion involved an instant teleportation to Hawaii, whichwas preceded by a letter from a single father who always wanted totake his son to the tropical location that his wife had loved. Thewriter of the letter asked Copperfield to send himself and his son,whom he had not seen in years, to the island.
A live shot from Hawaii, showing a sandy beach and ocean, wasplaying on a large screen above the stage. Copperfield called the20-something son out of the audience and the two stood on a steelplatform that extended over the audience.
In seconds, a windy white sheet covered the two and theyappeared on the screen, apparently in Hawaii. The father waswaiting in the sunshine.
Upon Copperfield's sandy return in the side-aisle of theauditorium, a light ocean mist blanketed the crowd of Hoosiers.
"It was really neat because it was like a family reuniting,"10-year-old Hartford City resident Savannah Stiles said.
Another play on the senses involved thirteen audience memberssitting on a metal stage draped in blue and white lights. He alsochose volunteers to watch on the sides and the back of the set.
Copperfield then posed a question.
"Now, be honest, did anyone talk to you before the show?"Copperfield asked. Each person shook their head "no."
The participants were covered with a large white sheet which washeld down by several of Copperfield's assistants. Unseen by theaudience, each of the members were given two flashlights, creatinga whirlwind of lights within the rectangular-shaped balloon. Thebottom of the stage was still visible.
Within a minute the sheet was pulled down revealing a bodilessset.
Moments later, the thirteen volunteers were found waiving theirflashlights on the balcony of Emens.
"It was totally random," freshman Jemiah Feece said in anexuberant breath. Feece said seeing Copperfield live versus ontelevision has removed all of her doubts regarding Copperfield'sauthenticity.
"There were no camera tricks," she said.
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