Theater Review. Rob Lake Magic Show.

With high ticket prices for this show, many feel the cheesy pre-taped Muppet’s doesn’t bode well with the audience. Hoping to play through the Christmas season, it was announced shortly after the opening a few days ago that after 20 previews and four shows that the show will close.

Lake, not being a well known name helped hurt pre sales. Further making things more problematic, the producers decided to add the Muppets to the show. The idea presumably would be to drive ticket sales. The Muppets are puppeteerd onstage.

Lake trades on illusions ; he performs the same sleight of hand that most musicians do on stage. He saws a woman in half, and makes another levitate over a bed of water. He asks audience members for a word which he later produces on paper.

While these ho-hum magic tricks maybe welcome to first timers, the show just isn’t Broadway quality. The absence of a director maybe the problem too. His visible discomfort when talking with the audience; even more uncomfortable is his mistimed exchanges with the Muppets. It gives us the feeling that he wasn’t really prepared for Broadway.

In the end, Lake is not what Broadway wanted. A show like this could have sparked a lot of interest throughout the holiday season. The show is so badly thought out and amateurish that the real magic here is how this even made it to Broadway in the first place!