Theater Review : Copperfield Show: Cool Tricks, Corny Chatter

With his TV-induced fame and I-could-make-the-moon-go-away-if-I-wanted-to brio, David Copperfield has always seemed to float above other magicians.

The attention he has generated over the years may have been his most stunning trick. And now that Copperfield is romantically linked to international model Claudia Schiffer, his act has gained an even higher profile. These two are the latest tabloid couple, titillating the globe with their gossip-ready pairing.

Everyone, including his competitors, agree that Copperfield has moved magic to another level, one that makes him newsworthy. Other illusionists who like their stunts on an epic scale (Siegfried & Roy come to mind) don’t often get out of Las Vegas, but Copperfield appears and disappears with his technology-oriented arsenal all over the world.

He materialized Thursday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center (where he continues through Sunday) with his latest extravaganza, “Beyond Imagination.”

A glimpse of Schiffer emerging from the stage fog may have been missing from opening night, but all manifestations of Copperfield’s romance with hugely theatrical, hugely expensive illusions were clearly evident.

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His performance, with reportedly at least $700,000 in gadgetry, is stupendous, spectacular, stupefying (should I stop now?) and very cool. Children sat dumbfounded. Their parents were thrilled. Young, snappily dressed couples gazed at each other with those “How did he do that?” looks. If it’s all done with mirrors, Copperfield must have some very fancy ones.

He’s actually improved in recent years, using the money wisely, creating even more lavish (but also complementary) settings for his various routines. The environment for his main tableaux is more Vegas than Broadway, but, with its Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” veneer and pulsing rock tunes, it produced the desired moodiness.

The problem is as it’s always been: He just doesn’t know when to be quiet. The patter between tricks is personable but corny, and Copperfield still seems confused over what he’s trying to project as a performer.

There’s the “good son” David making a rose out of tissue paper for an old lady. Then there’s the hip-jutting, horny Dave who doesn’t mind a leer or two.

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When his illusions are meant to be personal and revealing as well as exciting, he almost ruins them with syrupy reflections on his childhood. Too much gab about flying dreams and a love of falling snow stalled a couple of stunts based on those notions.

Copperfield probably calls it showmanship, but it detracts from the magic. And with tricks like these, you’re eager for him to get on with it.

He started the two-hour performance by placing an assistant in a box, then removed her comely head. She smiled the entire time, proving that you don’t need your body to have a good time. Next, Copperfield put himself through a few contortions, using a coffin-sized contraption that collapsed in sections, leaving the magician about five feet shorter.

It picked up from there.

He invited another assistant to crawl through his abdomen (she obliged, of course, with a wicked grin) and a third endured having her arm and leg systematically “erased.” Copperfield obviously has a thing about body parts, and later split a woman in half, then brightly assembled her again.

Once the maudlin setups were out of the way, Copperfield took to the air, while burly male accomplices pulled rings across him to show there weren’t any wires, at least none that we could see.

And then he made “snow” out of his sleeves, filling the center with bits of puffy foam that, in the blaze of stage lights, was surprisingly pretty as it cascaded on the audience.

One worry, though: That stuff doesn’t stain the carpet, does it?

* David Copperfield in “Beyond Imagination” continues today at 1, 4:30 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1, 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. $19.50 to $35, with $7 discounts for children younger than 7. (714) 740-2000 or (213) 480-3232.