Darren Romeo: Something Truly Magical

Heath Hawkins

Darren Romeo: Something Truly Magical- Part 1

There are a few shows that I go into with very high expectations. I try not to do that because I usually find that I am a little disappointed. The Darren Romeo magic show was one of those shows that I could not wait to see. However, this time, I was awed. It is hard to imagine that a show could exceed my expectations, but this one did. I was blown away!

I was anxious even before the show began.

I arrived in my seat about 15 minutes before show time and started to take in the feel of the theatre when to my surprise the beautiful gold curtain started to slowly rise to reveal an ominous scene. In the middle of the stage a stark, industrial looking platform was erected with a lone wooden chair. There was also a piece of white material draped across the back of the chair. The mysterious music playing in the background just added to the tension. I found myself wondering what would happen next, and the show had not even started yet.

The opening illusion grabbed the audience and let us know that we were in for something special. In a very dramatic sequence of events Romeo vanished from the lone chair in the middle of the stage and reappeared in the middle of the audience.

From there the excitement did not let up. He constructed a glass box on stage. I saw him build the box. Yet within the blink of an eye, Darren’s beautiful assistant appeared inside this sealed box.

At one point, he came down into the audience to do some close-up illusions and randomly selected a member of the audience to levitate a table. He was standing right beside my seat; I could have touched him. Yet, when they started to levitate the table - I was floored. I had no idea how they were doing it, and from the look on the face of the audience volunteer, she had no idea how she was doing it either. Baffling!

I could continue on about the illusions, but you really should see them for yourself. Just as a teaser, know that he does countless seemingly impossible escapes, impales himself on a spear, and even walks through a mirror. One illusion, that you will have to see to believe, even requires a huge cannon and massive aquarium.

The thing that sets Darren Romeo apart from the other magicians in Branson is not the magic. No disrespect to the many other great magicians in town. But Darren Romeo is different in one major way. He sings. He is a great magician, but so are Dave Hammer and Kirby Vanbirch. Darren Romeo uses his voice as a background for every illusion he does. There is no taped background music. Darren sings every song live.

I was surprised by the quality and variety of Darren’s voice. He sings so many types of music. Just looking at him, it was not hard to see that he is a rocker. He did sing his share of rock ballads, but he also brought in his love of Broadway. Theatre fans will be interested to know that he stared in the longest running musical in New York City, The Fantastics.

During one hilarious segment of the show he even did musical impersonations of more than a dozen different musical superstars. He started with Louie Armstrong and continued through Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Willie Nelson, Ricky Martin, the Backstreet Boys and even Diana Ross to mention a few.

Heath Continues

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