Volume 2, No. 21. November 8, 2002
Illusions
of grandeur
When Tony saws Juleen
in half, everybody can see the whole thing. She’s lying in a clear, plastic
box, not a wooden one, an update of one of the oldest tricks among magicians.
Such effective illusions landed the couple magic’s highest award this year,
a Merlin Award from the International Magic Society in the category of International
Illusionists of the Year. The Merlins are the Oscars for magicians with a long
line of famous winners including David Copperfield, Siegfried and Roy and Joe
Labero.
That line takes an abrupt detour with Tony and Juleen, however. For one thing,
they are Australian, a hitherto hinterland for illusionists. For another, their
award-winning show has been the resident entertainment at Wonderland Sydney
for three years. “We’d love to think we’re setting new standards
for theme park entertainment,” Juleen said. “Just because you are
in a theme park doesn’t make a show any less quality. The fact we’re
in Australia might have been more of a challenge because (the Society) had not
heard of us before. But as soon as people walk into that theater, they could
be in any theater anywhere.”
Well, not quite. When Wonderland hired the duo, the park renovated its theater
to custom-fit Tony and Juleen’s show, with computerized lighting responding
to more than 1,000 cues during the 40-minute, 13-illusion program. In terms
of quality production, Tony and Juleen have proven via the Merlin Award from
the New York-based society that they have a world class act. At the same time,
the couple has taken every chance to show off their Australianess, even having
a koala accompany them at the October 29 awards ceremony at Wonderland.
Ironically,
it was only by joining the ranks of Las Vegas and Broadway mainstays that Tony
and Juleen gained appropriate respect among Australians. “A lot of times
you have to travel overseas to get recognition in our own country,” Tony
said, citing such pop music examples as Savage Garden, Olivia Newton-John and
AC/DC. “If you’re playing Sydney all the time, for the people here
you’re just a local act. It’s nice to get that international recognition
without going overseas.”
The honor, bestowed upon Tony and Juleen by Society World President Remington
Scott and the Society’s Australian and New Zealand President Peter Balyck,
attracted national coverage. After receiving the award the duo’s week was
filled with radio interviews and live television appearances. About 150 VIP
guests, including other Australian magicians and Wonderland sponsors, attended
the ceremony then stayed for the show, which Tony and Juleen perform 364 days
a year (the park is closed on Christmas Day).
Tony calls their presentation “power illusions. It’s bang, bang, bang,
with a contemporary style of music. Most of the illusions don’t take us
more than three minutes.” Striving for such a modern feel, they long avoided
that saw-the-girl-in-half trick. “But the first question people ask when
they meet us is, ‘Do you saw Juleen in half?’ We didn’t want
to do the traditional thing, so we searched for a long time to present the sawing
in half in a new way.”
Breaking new ground clearly is the couple’s neatest trick.
©2002, Minton Enterprises
LLC
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