Chamber Magic is a show at the Waldorf Towers in Midtown Manhattan. It's a high-class event in a private suite of the hotels. Performers dress formally, and a dress code is enforced at the door requiring ties and jackets for men and dresses for women. Audiences are limited to 50 people at a time, and the magician interacts with individual audience members several times throughout the performance. One of the most famous bits involves the magician pouring audience members' favorite drinks out of a kettle. The show is not recommended for children, not due to content but simply because of the formal environment.
Chamber Magic
The Waldorf Towers
100 East 50th Street
New York, NY 10022
(212) 355-3100
hilton.com
Monday Night Magic takes place at the Players Theatre in Lower Manhattan. The performers vary from week to week, and the lineup almost always includes one particularly unconventional performer. Up to six different performers will take the stage each night. During intermission, performers walk the aisles to do card tricks. On "family nights," the show is geared to younger audiences, but, generally, the show is for children 12 and up.
Players Theatre
115 MacDougal Street
New York, NY 10012
mondaynightmagic.com
The Abracadabra Superstore has a short 20-minute demonstration show each weekend, which is geared in particular towards younger children. The show includes basic tricks such as pulling streamers from the performers mouth and causing a wand to fall apart. The show is book ended with a sales pitch, but is free of charge.
Abracadabra Superstore
19 West 21st Street
New York, NY 10010-6805
(212) 627-5194
abracadabrasuperstore.com
The Quantum Eye is geared more towards mind reading and other \"telepathic\" tricks, although the performer makes no claim to have powers. It is also good for younger children, and the performer frequently selects volunteers from the audience. Among the tricks are asking an audience member to think of a picture and drawing it, mind-reading the first few pages of books and guessing which volunteer has selected a token from a hat. This show also performs at the Bleecker Street Theatre.
Bleecker Street Theatre
45 Bleecker St
New York, NY 10012-2402
(212) 260-8250
45bleecker.com
The Manhattan Magic Show operates out of the Sage Theatre in Times Square. Shows are every Wednesday, with a pre-show starting one half hour earlier. The show runs about one and a half hours with a ten-minute intermission. Manhattan Magic features different performers every week, and tries to include performers from a wide variety of backgrounds and locations throughout the world
Manhattan Magic Show
Sage Theater
711 7th Ave., 2nd floor
New York, NY 10036
(212) 302-6665
manhattanmagicshow.com