{"id":2452630,"date":"2019-12-26T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=317955"},"modified":"2019-12-26T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-26T23:00:00","slug":"magician-adam-trent-from-boulder-to-broadway-and-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/magician-adam-trent-from-boulder-to-broadway-and-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Magician Adam Trent, from Boulder to Broadway and back"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Magician Adam Trent will perform two shows at the Wheeler Opera House on Saturday.<\/strong>
Courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The magician Adam Trent performed his first shows \u2014 as a card-flipping, penny-vanishing kid \u2014 on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder.<\/p>\n

Those days among the buskers and street performers in his hometown honed the stage charm and showmanship that\u2019s propelled him to become one of the best-known magicians of his generation, performing in the Broadway hit \u201cThe Illusionists,\u201d on the TV series \u201cThe Road Trick\u201d and making talk show stops at \u201cThe Today Show\u201d and \u201cEllen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI still really use everything I learned on the street,\u201d Trent, whose five-stop Colorado \u201cHoliday Magic\u201d tour comes to the Wheeler Opera House on Saturday, said in a recent phone interview.<\/p>\n

He started doing magic on the mall in Boulder at age 9 or 10, he recalled, and spent years passing the hat and learning harsh lessons about an audience\u2019s short attention span (\u201cIf there\u2019s a slow moment, they\u2019ll just walk away!\u201d) while honing his crowd interaction skills and figuring out how to handle hecklers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you get good at entertaining a crowd that does not want to be entertained and that didn\u2019t know they were coming to see you perform \u2014 if you can make them stop and watch you \u2014 then later when people are coming into a theater and sitting down and facing you, everything is easy,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Trent performed in the original \u201cThe Illusionists\u201d on Broadway and in three of the show\u2019s seasonal runs between 2014 and 2018. The hit show, matching Trent with other young and innovative magicians, was the first time magic had been back on Broadway in 25 years, since David Copperfield\u2019s reign.<\/p>\n

There, he perfected and popularized many of the illusions he\u2019s bringing to Aspen, including his tricks with LED screens. Along with the lessons of street-performing, Trent says he\u2019s crafted his act by stand-up comedians and musicians, from whom he has borrowed many tricks of the trade for his family-friendly show.<\/p>\n

The idea for using those LED screens, which he teleports through, came from seeing a pop music concert. A bit where he sticks and audience member\u2019s cell phone in a blender came from seeing a comedian accidentally break a crowdmember\u2019s phone.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s bringing the musician Evie Claire, of \u201cAmerica\u2019s Got Talent\u201d fame, with a band that will perform live during his act.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll combine music and magic in a way that hasn\u2019t been done before,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ve always wanted to do, but magic shows aren\u2019t known for having live music.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while his days on the mall in Boulder shaped his skills, Trent\u2019s stint on Broadway upped his game, he believes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was seeing audiences that were coming from \u2018Lion King\u2019 and \u2018Hamilton\u2019 and \u2018Wicked\u2019 \u2014 they\u2019d come to a magic show with the same level of expectation for quality and production,\u201d he said. \u201cSo the bar got raised, for myself and for magic.\u201d<\/p>\n

atravers@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Magician Adam Trent will perform two shows at the Wheeler Opera House on Saturday.Courtesy photo The magician Adam Trent performed his first shows \u2014 as a card-flipping, penny-vanishing kid \u2014 on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. Those days among the buskers and street performers in his hometown honed the stage charm and showmanship that\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2452630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 00:02:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2452630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452630\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2452630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2452630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2452630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}