No matter the age of the audience, magicians have a way of recapturing childhood where wonder, excitement and discovery are daily events.
Mario the Maker Magician — Mario Marchese, as he’s known to friends — has devoted the last 19 years of his life to magic, and in his first trip to Canada is appearing at the International Children’s Festival of the Arts.
David Blaine, the internationally renowned illusionist, dubbed Marchese the best children’s magician he had ever seen. And late-night television viewers have seen the New Yorker’s whizz-bang act on the The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He has also performed at celebrity private parties for Madonna and Robert De Niro, as well as Steve Martin and his daughter.
If there is anyone who puts the pedal to the metal, it’s Marchese. Robots, magic, slapstick, tricks and tons of silliness and laughter. These are the ingredients for his family shows.
“Whatever you present, you need to be excited and that’s what keeps me on my toes. That’s my oxygen and all of my high energy —that's what keeps kids excitable,” Marchese said.
Marchese is compact and wiry, with an elastic face and a shock of black hair often covered by a goofy hat. Onstage, he wears a white shirt, tie and ripped jeans. And he is hyper-enthusiastic and hyper excitable.
His props are all handmade from leftover pieces of junk he finds. Currently he’s working on a 5.5-metre snake that springs from a box. Will it be part of the festival show? Likely not, he replies, until all the kinks are worked out.
Marchese grew up in New York state in the 1970s and was riveted by magic. His first trick was taking two poker chips, one black and one white. He closed his hands and turned the black chip white and vice versa. He repeated the trick, and this time when he opened his hands, one was red and one was green.
“I even built a miniature wood box and put my trick in it and showed it to some magicians at a magic shop. They were more interested in how I made the box than the trick.”
After finishing school, Marchese spent a short period in punk bands before working towards a degree in education. He earned a bit of cash on the side performing magic shows for kids and it was his wife Katie who encouraged him to work at magic professionally.
“I had ideas of what defined a good magician and I aspired to that. When I surrendered to doing magic for children, I was finally able to do the magic I dreamed of.”
As Mario the Magic Maker, Marchese has taken classic magic tricks and added robotics made from everyday household objects. For instance, he features a crude robotic monkey and a lampshade from a Campbell’s tomato soup can.
“My biggest fear was messing up. A lot of magicians don’t perform for kids. Kids will shout out if they see multiple errors. But I thrive on the call and response. My show is based on messing up. It’s routine when I mess up.”
And for added fun, Mario the Magician is bringing 2,000 red foam clown noses to the festival to throw out to children during performances.
Mario the Maker Magician performs May 29 to June 1. Tickets are $18.25 at tickets.stalbert.ca or by calling 780-459-1542.
