If you like your magic shows loose and goofy, Ondřej Pšenička, the Czech Republic’s answer to “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”-era Rick Moranis, is the person you need to see. The fact that he’s an accomplished close-up card magician who fooled Penn & Teller with three of his effects is almost a bonus as you’re being won over by Pšenička’s lovable loser persona in his 52 Lovers show now onstage at the Chicago Magic Lounge.
This past Wednesday’s show opened with several seeming miscues as Pšenička attempted to keep on track the audience members he had enlisted to pull off his opening trick via written instructions. It was like herding cats as he exhorted one to grab this deck, not that deck and another to pick up their cue. It was all quite funny, especially given Pšenička’s impish smile, but it was enough to make one nervous that the wheels were all coming off. When the trick paid off beautifully, relieved applause and laughter resulted.
The theme continued with a seemingly botched attempt to pick a song as the soundtrack for one trick. The whole exercise seemed rather Byzantine and even pointless, leading to more uncomfortable laughter. It was only at the end of the show, when the song featured prominently in Pšenička’s masterful final card trick, that it became abundantly clear this magician loves playing the fool to fool his audience. In actual fact, he is very, very good at what he does.
I love Pšenička’s commitment to the bit. He can’t be that much of a goofball in real life, can he? His tricks also tend toward high-concept filigrees, such as a deck in which each card is supposedly scented with a different perfume, enabling him to literally sniff out a card someone has chosen and reinserted into the deck and then snatch it out of the air as the deck cascades onto the table. He sells the setup by rolling out a cart featuring 52 different perfume bottles. It’s a delightful moment, which he then heightens by correctly identifying the scents worn by the next two audience members he interacts with.
And this is a show built around audience interaction, including one trick in which every person in attendance opens their own envelope containing a handful of cards and goes through multiple steps with Pšenička to reach a nicely uplifting payoff.
That’s one of several high points in this memorably off-kilter performance. If Moranis is the Keymaster, perhaps we should call Pšenička the Cardmaster.
Ondřej Pšenička’s 52 Lovers runs Wednesdays through June 26 at the Chicago Magic Lounge.
Photo by Michael Brosilow
