A magical evening, literally

Remember this name: Jason Latimer. He’s ridiculously smart, preposterously cute, wildly charismatic, not yet 30 — and he’s currently the best magician in the world. He just won an international competition that’s basically the Olympics for magicians. He’s doing a show in February at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, which seats about 1900. And I got to see him on Saturday night, in a room that holds no more than 20 people: the Close-Up Room at the Magic Castle.

The Magic Castle is a private club for magicians and their friends and guests. I first heard about it 5 or 6 years ago and thought it would be beyond amazing to go, but I never thought I’d be able to, since I didn’t think I’d ever know anyone who belonged. (You have to audition in order to qualify for membership, and it’s apparently no small thing to get accepted, although you can also buy your way in as an associate member who supports the art of magic.) But I recently met a professional magician, and last week, knowing I was planning to spend the weekend in Los Angeles, he unexpectedly gifted me with his last 2009 guest pass.

I was allowed to bring up to 3 other people with me, so off I went on Saturday night with my friends David and Kim, dressed as the club requires in “elegant attire.” We dined, also as the club requires, on expensive but very tasty steakhouse-style food (think prime rib, creamed spinach, onion rings…) in a room wallpapered with flyers and playbills from the career of Dante the Magician. After we ate, we wandered through the building, which includes several theaters of featured performers as well as various members who just hang around doing magic in bars or at various tables tucked away in corners.

The Castle itself is an old Victorian house that’s been tricked out with all kinds of fun details, like a secret door that only opens to a password, a ghostly pianist who responds almost instantly to just about any request (although I apparently stumped her when I asked for “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”), and a metric buttload of ornate moldings and mirrors and furniture and stained glass and magical memorabilia and and and. Just about everything was draped in holiday decor, too, to take it even further over the top.

Latimer was scheduled to do just three half-hour performances, but he did back-to-back shows for 4 hours straight to accommodate everyone in line. We waited more than an hour — and it was worth every minute, because he proceeded to blow our minds. He started with card tricks, including one where David was on stage as his assistant and still couldn’t see how he did it. Then he moved on to his cups-and-balls routine. You’ve seen something like it before on street corners, but this was the concept taken to the umpteenth degree, with CLEAR cups.

We walked out of that room convinced that we’d seen the next stage superstar. He’s going to be like David Copperfield, Siegfried & Roy, and the Amazing Johnathan all rolled into one, with a sprinkle of Red Bull on top.

He did this routine on the Late Late Show a few years ago. What we saw was essentially the same, though expanded, and with a little more patter and interactivity. Prepare to boggle as we did:

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