‘Consider nothing
impossible’
David Copperfield's illusions
By Tim Ryan
defy logic
Star-BulletinAT the moment illusionist David Copperfield doesn't know what town he's in or what the weather is like outside.
"I have absolutely no clue," he says until a friend sitting nearby yells out "Connecticut" and "rainy." "They just push me out of the bus and I do my magic."
Copperfield, who performs tonight through Monday at the Blaisdell Concert Hall, gets pushed out of buses and planes a lot these days, doing some 500 shows annually, as many as three a day.
"Now that's magic," says Copperfield, 41, who has been seen worldwide by more people than any other magician in history, including Houdini.
After all, this is the guy who made the Statue of Liberty vanish, walked through the Great Wall of China, and soars through space.
His Broadway show "Dreams & Nightmares" broke all box office records during it's run in New York. Forbes magazine ranks Copperfield as one of the highest grossing entertainers in the world, ahead of Madonna, Kevin Costner and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"The secret is to consider nothing impossible, then start treating possibilities as probabilities," he said. "If I'm in the impossible business, and I am, then I want to go beyond impossible."
That includes Copperfield's other illusions, including The Deathsaw - where he walks through a saw blade. He has a new illusion on his current tour.
"All I can tell you is that it's called '13'," he said.
How has Copperfield lasted so long, completing 17 television specials, winning several Emmys and becoming the only living magician to receive not only a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but also the French Chevalier of Arts and Letters?
"You have to keep changing," he says. "It's O.K. to have greatest hits - mine is flying - but the challenge is to keep reinventing yourself and refining the craft. A magician has no choice."
And it's not the immensity of a trick but emotion that Copperfield now pursues.
"I try to make magic emotional and inwardly more exciting," he said. "After I did the Statue of Liberty and China Wall illusions, I did the flying piece and an illusion where I make it snow.
"People relate to wanting to fly; we all have that dream. And snow is a very emotional, calming experience."
Born David Kotkin, he was performing professionally in his hometown of Metuchen, N.J. at age 12 and later became the youngest person ever admitted to the Society of American Magicians. By 16, Copperfield was teaching magic at New York University.
But Honolulu is the birth of Copperfield magic. After performing for a year in a show in Chicago, Copperfield was here for several months to perform at the Pagoda Hotel. He lived first at the Kahala Hilton, then at the Kahala Condominiums, next door to "Hawaii Five-0's" Jack Lord.
"I'd see him walking around all the time," Copperfield said. "That was pretty magical."
Now Copperfield has moved into a new audience-participation show, or "interactive magic," an ever-evolving on-the-road edition of "Dreams and Nightmares."
Copperfield has also developed Project Magic to help disabled patients regain motor skills and dexterity through slight-of-hand magic.
And he has teamed with the Disney Company to open several magic-themed restaurants. A $26-million venture is going up in Times Square in New York; another is planned for Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
"Copperfield's Magic Underground is the secret underground lair of David Copperfield," he says. "You get pulled underground and while you're eating in a secret location the tables levitate and your friends disappear. Magic happens to you."
Copperfield says it takes magic "to a new level."
"Instead of watching a movie, you become a part of it."
Dreams & Nightmares
David Coperfield presents "An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion":
Showtimes: 8 p.m. today-Sunday; 5 p.m. tomorrow-Friday and Sunday; and 7 p.m. Monday
