This upcoming spring, I have a gig every Sunday at an out door shopping "village". The gig is broken into two parts.

First is simple walk around. With that, I'm cool. With a deck of cards, two half dollars and a Sharpie, I can do walk around all day.

The problem is the second part of the gig. Twice a day, they want me to perform a "scheduled" presentation. My "street" magic is fine, but it mostly plays to small groups of two to six.

I need a performance that is "street magic" in theme, but plays to groups of twenty to fifty. Keep in mind, I will be outside. I'll have a table, but I'm not sure of my angles yet. Assume I'll be covered on three sides by a half circle.

What tricks can you suggest that stick with a street magic theme but are play more like parlor magic. I already plan to use a Cups and Balls routine, what else?

I'm pretty strong with cards, but many of those tricks get lost on a larger crowd. I can add in some mentalism, but I need some other ideas.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Dave, have you seen any of Gazzo's books or DVDs? Look at his circle shows wher he has crowds of 50 to well over 100. Also check out Kozmo's site at http://kozmomagic.com/

These are people that really know the street scene.

Listen to Paddy, he knows.

You have a prime opportunity here. You have time to prepare, you're invited to be there, the audience will be primed and ready, in other words, everything is going your way. Put away the knuckle busting stuff and the long drawn out routines. You won't need them. Gazzo gets a lot of mileage out of a single card reveal. Just play it up high around your chest instead of on the table. You can do table stuff, but only for the first few. Once the first row is started, move up to more visual stuff.

Watch the videos Paddy suggested. Several of them are available online for preview. Just get the general idea, and then work on making what you know work for a larger group.

Paddy,

Great advice. (Though if the venue he wanted to be in was a restaurant I suspect your comments would've been different.)

davesalvatore,

Go for things that are entertaining, and by entertaining I mean one of two things - either FUNNY, or SKILLFULLY AMAZING. (Or both).

I personally have no skill whatsoever so I rely on FUNNY!

Robert

What the heck is "'street magic' in theme"?

That, IMHO, is part of your problem.

"Street magic" is not a theme. The street is a venue... in the loosest sense, magic performed on the street is "street magic." As a genre, "street magic" is an artificial construct resulting from a misinterpretation of what David Blaine was trying to acheive in his first televised magic special.

Sounds to me like you have a gig that is half walkaround magic and half stand-up magic, plain and simple. Sticking the word "street" in there only complicates things.

If you want your stand-up magic to be in the style of busking, then paddy's advice is right on target. Sounds to me, though, like you don't necessarily have to go the busking route, especially since this is a scheduled performance that (I'm assuming) you are being paid to do -- more in line with an outdoor parlor performance. In either case, sounds like you have a lot of work to do.

Luckily, there are loads of resources out there to get you going either way.