Ricky Jay's New Stage Show

[Magic Newswire]

Ricky Jay is starting to tour with his new show "A Rogues Gallery: An Evening of Conversation & Performance" and will appear in Boston next Friday. READ MORE

[Jim Martin]

Thanks for the post. Make sure to click on 'Phoenix' for the full interview.

After Boston, it plays in Toronto.

Great photos here:
http://rickyjay.com/

[NCMarsh]

I also saw that Criterion Collection is releasing, or just released, a twentieth anniversary DVD of House of Games (my favorite Mamet) with commentary by Mamet and Jay.

N.

[Adam Brooks]

I'll be attending the show in Boston, and I'm extremely excited. I like that part of the show with be improvisatory, as I work at an improv comedy theater. Should be quite a trip.

I'll post a review next weekend.

[Magic Mike]

Look forward to your review, Adam. I have tickets for the Toronto shows.
Very excited to see Ricky here. I don't think he's played Toronto before.

[Richard Kaufman]

Here's a direct link to the Phoenix interview:
http://thephoenix.com/Portland/Arts/792 ... Ricky-Jay/

DO NOT CLICK ON THIS LINK UNLESS YOU ARE COMPUTER SAVVY AND KNOW HOW TO AVOID MALWARE.

[Steve Bryant]

My attempt to connect to that link immediately told me that the link contains malware. I've never encountered that on any site before. Be warned.

[Richard Kaufman]

It's easily avoided: a few seconds after going to the link, the screen will change to something telling you that your computer is infected and you need to download software. Just click the back button on your browser and you'll return to the story no worse for wear.

[Jonathan Townsend]

How about loading adblocker plus?

[Steve Hook]

Richard:

You should immediately delete that post.

This is one of those more malicious malwares. If anyone of your readers handles this incorrectly, he or she will get a nasty infection.

Steve H

[Jonathan Townsend]

Steve, which component on the page has the malware?

[Magic Newswire]

Ricky Jay's new show premiers tonight in Boston. In anticipation (and to promote he show) there's a lengthy article profiling Jay and discussing "Rogue's Gallery." In the article, Blaine is quoted as saying that Ricky was his "Greatest Teacher." READ MORE

[P.T.Widdle]

I saw the show last Friday. It was my fourth time seeing Ricky Jay. I saw 52 Assistants twice, On the Stem once, and now Rogue's Gallery.

Of course I enjoyed it. What's nice about this show is that it is different each time, so there probably won't be too many spoilers here.

Projected on a large screen behind him are about 100 thumbnail pictures from his collection. He has audience members call out numbers and then he chooses one. The thumbnail is enlarged and he tells a story about it. Sometimes this leads into an effect. Sometimes he shows a video clip.

The stories were all entertaining, some more than others. One story about a Siegfried and Roy party elicited howls of laughter from the audience.

The process of choosing the pictures seemed to annoy Ricky a little bit. He seemed bothered by having to choose a number from all the shouters. Once, when a number was requested, a doofus yelled out "Dai Vernon!" That couldn't have made Ricky happy.

The several card effects didn't seem to rock the crowd as much as I remembered from other shows. One card effect was performed in front of a giant photo of Charlie Miller.

One effect that really mystified me was a bag trick where an audience member rolled a die several times as numbered paper bags were eliminated. Each bag had some humorous item in them. The final bag contained Ricky's Dice book autographed to the selected spectator.

The Knight's Tour finale was a crowd pleaser.

Overall, I would say the stories and video clips were the highlight of this show, more than the magic, strange as that may seem.

[AMCabral]

I saw the show last Friday. It was my fourth time seeing Ricky Jay. I saw 52 Assistants twice, On the Stem once, and now Rogue's Gallery.

I was there, too. Did you have your light-up rabbit in a hat pin on? I left mine at home.

The process of choosing the pictures seemed to annoy Ricky a little bit. He seemed bothered by having to choose a number from all the shouters. Once, when a number was requested, a doofus yelled out "Dai Vernon!" That couldn't have made Ricky happy.

"That's not a number." I thought it a curious choice for someone reportedly that averse to hecklers to subject himself to that kind of procedure. It will be interesting to see if and how they attempt to streamline that procedure in future performances. They also need to figure out how to get to each image more quickly. "Fitz" seemed to be having a time of it.

Overall, I would say the stories and video clips were the highlight of this show, more than the magic, strange as that may seem.

I get the feeling that that's the point of this particular show. If "52" was about cards and "On The Stem" is about sideshows and the midway, "Rogues Gallery" seems to just be about Ricky Jay.

-T