We never learned his name. The magician who stars in Vegas’s most clandestine magic show knows the power of mystery. Everything about The Magician’s Study is a secret, from the magician’s identity, to where exactly in Vegas the shows are held, to how to buy tickets. It is a business, of course, so there’swith a show calendar and ticket prices, but you can’t actually buy those tickets until you enter a code word.
The magician—Australian, probably in his 30s, anonymously handsome but with quick wit and entertaining patter—enters in a gaudy sportcoat and a polygonal rabbit mask that makes him look like a character from a late ‘90s videogame. After quickly ditching the mask he proceeds to run through a 90 minute show heavy on card tricks, with a beguiling centerpiece featuring the Wakeling variation on the century-old oftrick.
This magician handles it all adeptly. His non-stop chatter, charming demeanor, and self-effacing comedy ingratiates himself to the crowd so deeply that he can pull off all manner of close-up illusions, and with his sure-handed administrations of playing cards he whips through tricks without bungling any of them. He also peppers his act with callbacks to earlier jokes and conversations, a common stand-up trick that underscores the mental acuity needed for this kind of show.