Lawrence Baffles Primetime Morning’s Hosts

If you had your Sunday cuppa in front of the tv on 21 May, you would have caught your favourite magicians, Lawrence and Priscilla, on air discussing their July opening of Magicbox on Primetime Morning.

This is the best sneak peek of the big-scale illusions that Lawrence and Priscilla will be introducing on the new show. Primetime captured a feat involving an awesome ventilation fan with mean blades. Stick a pole in there and watch the pulp fly. Priscilla demonstrated how she was able to navigate those knife-like blades unscathed. Well, she did not demonstrate it, she just did it and left you wondering how she did it!

Then there was a flaming box thingummy and an impalement act with wickedly hot torches. Ooh, the teasers just leave the audience panting for more.

The interviews were okay. Hosts Steven Chia and Joanne Leow asked Lawrence and Priscilla about their characters’ connection vis a vis their real-life relationship as father and daughter. Magic choreographer Joanie Spina was present to give her take on the specialised routines needed for a large-scale theatre production like Magicbox.

But the highlight had to be towards the middle of the 30-minute interview when Lawrence showed what he was capable of. He stumped Steven and Joanne with a variation of the classic cups and balls. Joanne was literally speechless and Steven had to jump in with some philosophy on different paradigms about magic. *hee*

They were more prepared when it came to Priscilla’s turn. She did a sleight of hand turning a two dollar bill into a ten dollar note.

All in all, this is rare footage which helps fans of the magician duo to know them a little better.

Joanie Spina is in town!

Magic Choreographer Joanie Spina is in town this week to advise Lawrence and Priscilla on MAGICBOX. Who is she and what’s her job again? The term ‘magic choreographer’ is so specialised that little is known about what Ms Spina does for a living.
However, let’s ask the question, “Do you know David Copperfield?” Remember that smouldering look he throws at the audience just before he makes the Statue of Liberty disappear? Or his mysterious smile that has millions of female hearts thumping across the continents? That’s all Joanie Spina. She was the principal performer, choreographer, and artistic consultant to David Copperfield for 11 years. Now, she carries this expertise to MAGICBOX and gives it an authentic Las Vegas pizzazz.

Q: When did you arrive and how long will you stay?
JS: I arrived on 11 May. But I’ve been working with Laurence and Priscilla since last June. I come over to Singapore for two to three weeks at a time.

Q: As magic choreographer, what are your challenges on MAGICBOX?
JS: I help magicians Lawrence and Priscilla exclusively with their moves and style during the magic routines. Since I started working with them, they have improved a lot, particularly Priscilla. Her movements now have great depth and substance. Magic calls for so much commitment and skill that it needs to be paired with substance and weight. Magicians need to exude a lot of power and presence on stage to make the audience believe that they are actually making the magic happen. Priscilla is a superb magician and her stage persona needs to reflect this.
In previous performances with Lawrence, she had been encouraged to be lightweight.
Women are sometimes portrayed as supportive characters; some are just pretty things to decorate the stage.
Priscilla is a role model for girls. There are not many women in magic, and you know why? Because there’re not many female magicians. This is how it works. Young girls go to the theatre and they say to themselves “Look at that great lady magician! I want to be like her!” But right now, women are only on stage as magic assistants. To be an inspiration to girls, Priscilla needs the substance that fits the illusions she is doing on stage.
Priscilla is a hard worker, one of the most hardworking I’ve ever met. She practises with me; then she goes home and practises some more. Her commitment is impressive. Her progress is evident even in the short time I’ve been working with her. I enjoy working with people with good work ethics.
With Lawrence, my goal is to help him loosen up on stage. He has one of the best postures I’ve seen; I don’t have to work with him on that. I just need to help him loosen up at the right places and to help him explore different mediums, for example drama and comedy.

Q: What is your personal goal for your role in MAGICBOX?
JS: Culturally, MAGICBOX is different from the shows I’ve done in Las Vegas. So it’s a new challenge. It’s very important to know your audience. What Jim Steinmeyer or I think may work here may not necessarily be so. For example, when I was in China with David (Copperfield), I observed that the Chinese audience liked fast-paced action. The slower scenes and emotional interplay didn’t impress them as much. Moreover, there was the translation challenge there; so we had to make everything visual. It’s vitally important to understand your audience. So that’s my goal here. Fortunately, Loretta Chen is here to guide us about the local audience.

Q: How did you originally connect up with Lawrence and Priscilla?
JS: I met them in 2002 through our mutual friends Kevin and Cindy Spencer. Moreover, Jim Steinmeyer was working on the MAGICBOX script and he recommended me to Lawrence. When I heard that Jim was on the script, I was excited because I’ve always enjoyed working on projects with him; he’s such a good writer.

Q: Are you the only woman in this business of magic choreography?
JS: Yes, I believe I am the only woman – the only person -- in this business! There’s not much demand for it because it’s so specialised. My background and training is originally in dance. I didn’t intend to specialise in magic choreography. But, because I worked with magicians for many years, I built a reputation for myself in this area. I really learned from trial and error, because there was no precedent for this job.

Q: This is your second time working on an Asian production?
JS: I’ve been in South East Asia many times. I was with David in Singapore Indoor Stadium in the late 80s. Last year, the producers for Princess Tenko, a Japanese magician, wanted an American director who knows the US audience to redo her music, choreography and costumes. So they asked me to restage the production with new music and costumes that would appeal to a western audience.
I wouldn’t specially look out for work on this side of the world because it costs a lot to fly a specialist all the way from Las Vegas. Stage magic is very expensive, so I understand that magicians have to spend their money wisely.

Q: What will you continue to aspire to in your career?
JS: I will continue to grow to achieve my full potential. I wouldn’t go back to dance choreography. My company, Spina Creative Services, offers lectures and workshops as well as videos and editing. I would want to explore about becoming a casting director; a casting director finds talent and auditions them for show producers. I’ll like to cross over into other aspects of theatre; and not be restricted to stage magic.
I love being a performance coach. I love that I help people bring out their strengths and minimise their weaknesses so they can capitalise their talents. Not everyone has this kind of opportunity. I understand magicians and performers; it’s hard to do it on their own. They need a coach, someone to assess them objectively. As performers, they can get hung up on stuff that the audience doesn’t even know about. So it helps to have someone step in and guide them.

Q: How do you find Singapore?
JS: The people here are friendly. I love the diversity here. There’s Chinatown, Little India, one nation with so many different distinct parts. It’s very interesting culturally.

You can find out more about Joanie Spina at http://www.spinacreativeservices.com/

Ordered Chaos

The only phrase to describe early rehearsals for a full scale theatre production is ‘ordered chaos’. The dance choreography depends on the magic choreography, the magic choreography depends on the magicians, the magicians depend on the script, the script has been written but needs to be revised and revised again umpteen times.
It is back to the drawing board again and again. At this stage, all an onlooker will see are lots of intense pow wows.

Here is Lawrence explaining his illusions to magic director Johnny Thompson.

Here is Artistic Director Loretta Chen and Joel shredding music to fit around the illusions.

Jonas, Addy and Jiafa scratch their heads over the magic props.

And here? Has Lawrence taken over Zaini Tahir’s job as Dance Choreographer? No, he is just trying to show a dancer how he needs a curtain to be held over a prop. Do it the wrong way and, oops, embarrassing secrets may peek out!

Seasoned performers take the chaos in good spirit. From experience, they know that all the madness will gradually resolve into a tight and fast-paced performance where one routine melds seamlessly into the next.

Right now, they take the numerous and sudden changes in stride. In one rehearsal, the dancers may be told that their routine is too long and to cut it. Moments later, the magician hollers that he needs more time for his ‘secret move’, and the dancers are told to spin out their dance again. Nobody complains, it’s all part of the job.

MAGICBOX Rehearsal starts!

MAGICBOX is here! This fact can’t get any more real than in today’s rehearsal. For the first time, I saw all the cast, creative and production crews gathered in our studio.

Johnny Thompson, yes the Great Tomsoni himself, had flown in from California to attend this inaugural meeting. He will be giving magic direction for the show. Iskandar Ismail, who is composing the MAGICBOX theme and songs, also lent his prestigious presence.

Jonathan Lim is more well-known as a director and playwright based in Singapore, but he is here in MAGICBOX as one of the actors; I wouldn’t tell you in what role!

I’m seated here with actors Jason Chan and Dwayne Tan.

My dad gave a rousing speech to welcome the team. And it’s down to business. Scripts were passed around and Loretta Chan, our Artistic and Stage Director, got very animated explaining the creative direction to the crew and the dancers.

There’s such a lot to do; but I took advantage of a short break in the briefing to make a beeline for Johnny. I’ve worked with him before on our previous international production Magic of Love, and it was like reuniting with a mentor. I really look forward to this entire month of watching how he approaches and solves problems in his wonderfully insouciant and yet professionally keen manner. With veterans like Johnny, you don’t just understudy his magic, you understudy him.

After a solid day of briefing and discussions, everyone was starting to zonk out.
Enter…carbohydrates!

My dad is such an intense person, he wasn’t going to let the dinner break interrupt him. Here he is, still talking business with Iskandar.

After dinner, we had a frank, no holds barred critique of MAGICBOX illusions. It’s a struggle to view your illusions with an objective eye, and to be patient with the opinions of the creative and production people. I used to sometimes feel that they are too demanding! But I remind myself that this is because they are setting high standards for the show; which is what I want for MAGICBOX, right?

Mercifully, somebody called an end to the first rehearsal. Outside is pitch darkness. I felt that a lot had already been threshed out, but we are still a long way from Curtains Up.

Will keep you posted on further developments!

Priscilla