Escape artist salutes Houdini in ‘Illusionists’
When “The Illusionists” begin performing at the Marcus Center Tuesday, the expansive stage show’s international ensemble will celebrate the wide range of magical performance arts.
There’s the grand illusions of Kevin James and Jonathan Goodwin, the slapstick misdirection of show host Jeff Hobson, the mind reading of Colin Cloud, intricate card manipulation from An Ha Lim and the macabre trickery of Dan Sperry.
At the center of the performance is a daring escape that pays direct homage to Wisconsin’s own magical superstar, Harry Houdini. Born in Hungary, and first known as Erik Weisz, the future magician would be raised in Appleton for a decade of his preteen years before moving to the East Coast.
Soon his seemingly impossible escapes would leave audiences amazed.
Hearkening back to one of Houdini’s most famous escapes from more than a century ago, each of “The Illusionists” performances finds Italian escape artist Andrew Basso lowered head-first into a glass “Water Torture Cell.” As he struggles with the handcuffs binding his wrists, twists his ankles from their shackles and blindly picks the locks that hold him in
the water-filled enclosure — all while holding his own breath, and composure, for up to four minutes — Basso pays tribute to the master who has influenced his career.
“I was 12 when I first started studying Houdini,” Basso said from a recent tour stop. “I had already been doing magic for four or five years. All the books, of course, described Houdini as the greatest magician, so I decided to find out what this man did. And I was astounded by the history, and the stunts, and the feats he performed.
“As I practiced my own magic, I discovered escapes and started with ropes and simple items first. But what got me really interested in Houdini was how he cheated death. That fascinated to me.”
As Basso pursued that risk, his own life took on similar death-defying aspects. Videos on his YouTube channel show him
scurrying out of a wooden enclosure just before a car pummels through, igniting his clothes and hair in an ensuing inferno. Even the “Water Torture Cell” — an act Basso said took six years of training in lock-picking, contortion and breath control — has created harrowing moments, including his first public performance of the feat on the opening night of “The Illusionists” at the Sydney Opera House in 2012.
“There was a lot of adrenaline and I couldn’t really focus, or zone out,” he remembered. “So I went in the tank, and after 30 seconds, I ran out of air. My body was excited, my heart was pumping and I couldn’t hold my breath. I did the emergency signal and they had to rescue me and pull me out.”
Not one to accept failure, Basso soon returned to the water.
“Actually, I did it like 50 minutes later,” he said, laughing. “It was my will to do it as soon as possible, because when you have a trauma, the body memorizes that moment. If you don’t face the fear in that moment you cannot do it anymore, because your body will reject any attempt to get close to the situation that was bringing you close to death.”
Now, Basso is the veteran of “The Illusionists” ensemble — the only performer who has been in the show from the beginning. Five years on, he said he is still excited to be carrying Houdini’s legacy to new audiences, while he continues learning new tricks and techniques from his fellow magicians.
“Each one of us respects each other because we bring different things to the stage,” Basso said. “It’s just an amazing opportunity to be around each other, to be inspired and learn new things every day. Since we are all so different, I am constantly finding new ideas.”