Saturday, July 14, 2018

Magic Show for July 13 2018



"Oh Fudge!" with GM and Dr. C (original version, before the only rehearsal revealed it to run far past its alloted 6 minutes, and that most of the visual jokes wouldn't be visible past the first row of the open air stage) (with yr hmbl typst and Dr. Richard Cooper of WMU)

GM comes on stage, with cart.  Cart contains two stands, a wind up portable phonograph, and art supplies – pastel sticks, four cardboard sheets (black on one side, white on the other). 

GM goes off stage to bring in Dr. C.  Dr. C is apprehensive about being on stage.  He helps GM place the stands in front and winds up the phonograph.
(Now this whole bit has been reduced to having the posts already on stage, and GM and Dr. C coming onstage at the same time.  That saved 34 minutes alone.)

GM produces a record from the turntable, which quickly reveals to be broken.  Dr. C plays the turntable, to the surprise of GM and Dr. C.  They take a Ta Daaaa! Credit for the trick. 

Dr. C’s task will be to keep the phonograph running during the presentation.
(The record was hardly visible, so we just went with the odd image of a wind up phonograph - a Birch portable from the 1940s - and a shellac record of a Hawaiian dance.  Ironically, at the end of the performance it was this record that ended up breaking.)

GM pulls up a cardboard sheet, and then a pastel stick.  He hands Dr. C a sheet as well.  They hand sheets back and forth to each other, with increasing speed, making what seems to be random marks on the sheets.

(The sheets are pre-cut to a template.  The first mark being made is along the pre-cut area.  Dr. C. will draw in the blank portion, GM will draw upon the portion with the faintly sketched lines.  We ended up with just GM doing the sketching, and Dr. C mounting the images on the poles.)

As they complete a color and move to another, they put the used stick into a bag. 

First time, it goes through the bottom to the ground.

Second time, it goes through, but they have a metal bowl to catch it.  Ta-daah!

Third time, they flip the bag upside down, and the stick goes into the bag and stays there. Ta-daaaah!
(This whole bit was dropped, since nobody could tell what was going on past 10 feet from the stage, which turned out to be everyone)

GM uses the broken record as a knife to mime cutting the drawings along the pre cut template.
(Nobody could see the record, so we went with an monstrously large orange cutter.  People saw that!)

The drawings are torn apart at the cut, and are mis-arranged on the posts.

They are re-arranged to show Buster Bronco and the WMU logo at the bottom.

Ta Daahhhh!
(And that, was that - 6 minutes!)
(And one more rehearsal would have been ideal, but live and learn! Maybe next time!)

After a considerable amount of editing.... it was trimmed to 6 minutes on stage, with this clip being the sole document, apparently!  Whew! 92 degrees of fun! (note on "sole document" - cue the mysterious audio track to read out... there .... is.... one.... other.... )



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