Magic is back: Fresh from popular Falls residency, Leon returns with 'Cadillac' show

Preview by Joshua Maloni

GM/Managing Editor

Those who caught Leon Etienne’s summer show at the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center know his “Magic Rocks.”

Now, they can catch his sleight-of-hand mastery on a grander stage, as the magician brings his touring show to Lockport’s Historic Palace Theater at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5.

“If they liked that version of the show … that's like the Chevy version of the show, right? We're bringing the Cadillac to Lockport, because the theater is bigger,” Leon said in a phone interview. “This is our touring show that we do all the time. We just did this show for a week in Atlantic City, at Hard Rock Casino. So, this is the show.”

At the NACC, Leon was in residency each weekend inside the Woodbox Theatre. The intimacy of that room allowed for up-close-and-personal “How did he do that!?!”

For the performance next weekend, “The Cadillac version is all my creative expression realized, because you have the bigger space,” Leon said. “We have bigger crew, bigger resources. This is the best version of the show that we currently do.

“We're always trying to get better, obviously, but this is the one where we look out into the audience and we just see so many people rocking with us and enjoying it. Grandma, grandpa, the kids, the grandkids – they're all there.”

Leon added, “We also keep it intimate, as well, and that's just a surprise people are going to have to come see in the show; because we do all the big stuff I've done on ‘America's Got Talent,’ on Jimmy Fallon, on ‘Penn & Teller: Fool Us,’ ‘Masters of Illusion’ – all the TV show stuff that I'm kind of known for in the public eye. But then there's a bunch of surprises mixed into that no one's ever seen me do on TV. And part of one of those sequences is retaining that intimacy that you experienced in Niagara Falls – and we have a very creative way of doing that.”

Originally from Utica, Leon has performed all over the world – and is often on tour. That motivated him, and his partner, Chelsea LaCongo (who’s from Orchard Park), to stay a little closer to home over the summer. They took up shop at the NACC with the hope of returning on a more regular basis.

“Niagara Falls was absolutely incredible,” Leon said. “It was everything I could have imagined and more. The locals really, really showed up and showed out. It was great. The reviews from the show were incredible.”

In fact, audience members told Leon, “ ‘Hey, thank you for being here. We don't typically get anything remotely close to this kind of production value and quality on our side. Thank you for being in the USA.’ ”

“We're definitely looking forward to returning to the Falls,” Leon said.

While here, he learned Western New York – and Niagara County, in particular – has a strong, participatory and supportive arts and cultural community.

“It seems like everybody has everyone's best interest in heart. They just want more good art,” Leon said.

“The Kenan Center actually sponsored one of my magic camps this summer, which is something we always love to do every year – and this is exactly what it is. It's like going to Hogwarts for kids during the summer. They spend a week with us; they learn magic the entire week; and then at the end of the week, we put on a big, public show for their family and friends. And the transformation we see in these kids over the weeklong process is just, it's unbelievable, you know? And then we hear all these great stories of them going back to school and blowing people's minds, and I get pictures and videos of them entering the talent show at school and winning it. It's like some of the most rewarding work we've ever done.

“But because Keenan sponsored that magic camp, they're like, ‘By the way, if you have a spot for us in your fall tour, we'd love to throw something over at the Palace,’ because I haven't even stepped foot in the Palace Theater, but they tell me it's amazing. So, I'm looking forward to doing it. And Keenan is – talk about working together – they're trying to expand their programming and reach out and begin to work on a more frequent basis with the Palace. So, it's really cool to see the Lockport arts community working together.”

For a magician, an engaged audience makes a “world of difference.”

“The energy the audience gives to you, you are only going to give back tenfold,” Leon said. “And then that energy just keeps building throughout the show so that, by the end of the night, you've all gone on this crazy, fun ride together.

“So, if you have that lack of attention, I mean, the show's just going to suffer no matter what. But, specifically, magic is one of those things that has to be viewed live. And I tell people this all the time, because we get a lot of people commenting like, ‘Oh, I saw you on this show and that show. I can't quite make it to this show.’ And I always encourage them to try, when I'm back in the region, to come to a live show. You can view magic through the phone, you can view it through the TV, and it's fun, and it works for that genre, but there's nothing like experiencing it live in person.

“I tend to find most people naturally kind of put those phones down and just rock with us, because that's the whole reason they're there. And that's part of the mission statement, even in the magic camps, is to get people off these electrical devices … and bring us all back together and connect on a real, human level, which is what the world needs.

“That is magic. When I say, ‘Magic – the world needs magic now more than ever,’ I don't necessarily mean magic tricks. I mean we just need to all get back together. And for me, magic is the vehicle that does that.”

The Historic Palace Theatre is located at 2 East Ave. Click HERE for tickets.