(seen at the afternoon performance on 20th August 2026)
For those who didn’t know, the London Coliseum was designed as a home for variety theatre. Only the very best acts played it, though they would seem slow and often tame to our modern eyes.
This show does a sound job of recreating the experience.
Most important, there is absolutely nothing new to be seen. If you watched “Britain’s Got Talent” over the last decade, almost every magician has been on it (and shared with the other global show franchises). Moreover, they do exactly the same routines.
Worryingly, the camera on BGT often ‘reveals all’ on television. Here, it is the same. Even with the vast orchestra pit separating us from them, the ‘method’ behind every single illusion is disappointingly visible to even the half-experienced eye.
2026 finalist Rafferty Coope kicks off the show with a dull “hole in the card” trick, before an even duller “gosh, the things the audience call out are on a sheet we unfurl” reveal. Worst of all, the curtains held up while the helicopter moves into place mock the professionalism of the Ehrlich Brothers, magicians who know how to stage a show.
Nerdy Matthew Pomeroy seems to be our M.C, taking an age to welcome onto the stage escapologist Andrew Basso and illusionist Gabriella Lester.
Basso proceeds to molest an innocent scorpion and embarrass unnecessarily a young woman who chose not to come up onto the stage but is pretty much frogmarched from her seat.
What we are supposed to think happened, didn’t, but if animal rights activists care about anything other than the “cute and furry” they should be contacting this show.
A dull “safe escape” by Lester would have been improved if the “safe” hadn’t been on a curtained black plinth, the whole set at a height her upstretched arms might be visible from if seen from the front.
Some random “four horsemen” talk, suggesting a paragraph left in from a previous show from this production company follows, demonstrating the overall lightness of production values.
Eden Choi’s card manipulation presents all Jeff McBride’s DVD tricks in a fairly accomplished set of productions. Even if his hiding places are visible, the changes are smooth and the effect, if not buffed to French Polish standards, at least had a whiff of Mr Sheen.
Next, Pomeroy’s “silent mind read” ended in a yak rather than an elephant for the monkey. If you are working a “key,” don’t assume everybody will choose “football” when you have already eliminated the obvious alternatives.
James More’s BGT “teleportation light bulb” and “chair to stare” illusions never fail to disappoint, and do so again here. Explaining how the latter is done is no crime, doing it so badly that children in the audience are audibly disappointed however…
Closing act one with the now tired “everyone in the audience does the torn-and-restored-card” trick, requiring all 4 main magicians seems excessive. Only using 4 cards (compared to the six used by others) just a bit sloppy. And the cleaning team have a right to be annoyed – as should any member of the audience slipping on the litter at the interval.
High hopes for the second half are dashed with the same dull “key” trick from Fraser Penman as his TV appearance. It’s all in the spacing of the objects, fascinating mathematically, less so on umpteenth viewing.
Still, at least it is over quickly, unlike the next two acts.
Lester and More team up to shove Lester into another box (the casual sexism displayed towards her throughout the show is off-the-scale already). Funny the depth of the box (including the bit nobody looks at) is slightly more than her torso, isn’t it, despite the four options More eliminates.
Time for Basso’s big moment. Imitating Houdini, who would stretch a trick’s set-up beyond modern endurance. There is a lot of time expended today, for very little payoff on a water escape.
For the record, Martin Daniels, with his father Paul working the tension to unendurable levels is simply better by miles.
Perhaps if Fluffy the Scorpion had been allowed in the tank, or an audience member could use a fresh padlock purchased from Robert Dyas opposite the theatre, it may have been more interesting.
Matthew Pomeroy does his bit for disability access by totally failing to recognise the significance of the “sunflower” lanyard. Young Leon was probably also told what to reply in order to elicit a laugh from the crowd (something lacking through most of the show).
A decent table card trick, but not really suited to a 2500 seat auditorium, with even the front row viewing on screens.
A final “time capsule” could have been performed in any number of ways. The deadly “random numbers become the time and date” ending has been seen a million times… though not with the cast deliberately stretching out the routine to hit the intended target they leave visible throughout.
From beginning to end, an inferior carbon copy of every other compilation magic show to hit the West End over the past five years – and the monkey has attended them all.
Put another way, front row seats for this are £30. Front row for Penn & Teller at the Palladium last September hit a minimum of £115. The experience is as different as a transport cafe cheese sandwich from afternoon tea at the Ritz.
Both at least competent, but if you compare the ingredients, originality and style, you are getting what you pay for.
Apparently, this show is supposed to be tied loosely to some film of the same title. No real connection is made after the opening scene, and perhaps it is just as well.
Now, the monkey has seen this live… so you don’t really have to.
2 stars.
Photo credit: Johan Persson. Used by kind permission.