For Lance Burton, the Trick Is to Pass Along That Presto Feeling

Picture a pair of wire-rimmed glasses on magician Lance Burton, and he looks suspiciously like a grown-up Harry Potter. Even if Burton, 41, has never played Quidditch, he has been known to levitate before a crowd. A fixture on the Las Vegas Strip for nearly 20 years, Burton is almost halfway through a 13-year contract at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino. A couple of times a year, the magician takes his show on the road. This weekend, he will appear--and disappear, presumably--in four shows beginning today at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.

Question: You’re the “Master Magician.” Does anything ever go wrong?

Answer: Everything that you can think of has gone wrong. I’ve had animals jump into the audience, I’ve had birds land on people’s heads; the worst is when the goose goes into the crowd. I have to run down and grab him before he bites somebody. Geese are mean; they’re like watchdogs. Or sometimes kids will get onstage and look at the audience and start crying. You don’t want to scar the kid for life, so I try to handle them diplomatically, then send them back to their seat.

Q: How will your show in Cerritos differ from your Vegas act?

A: It’s exactly the same show as Vegas, except it’s all completely different. [Laughs.] I like to have a well-balanced show, with sleight of hand, big illusions and comedy. I’m bringing a special guest star with me to Cerritos, the Great Tomsoni, a comic magic act. He worked in Vegas many years and all over the world. He’s one of the guys I learned from. When we take the show on the road, we do about two hours. In Las Vegas, it’s about an hour and 25 minutes; then they like to get people back down to the casinos.

Q: Why is magic so popular in Vegas?

A: You don’t have to speak the language to understand it. You can get it no matter what your age or language. We have such a broad demographic that comes to Las Vegas now: families, overseas business, senior citizens....

Q: Have you seen “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”?

A: Oh, I can’t wait to see the movie. I’ve read all the books. It’s a very good story, the little boy grew up a magician and didn’t even know it.

Q: Do you think “Harry Potter” will have an impact on the magic industry?

A: I think it’s going to help get more people interested in magic. Right now, magic is the most popular it has ever been. Young kids are exposed to more magic than they were when I was growing up. In another 10 to 15 years, we’ll see a whole new crop of magicians that got their interest seeing magic on television and in the “Harry Potter” series.

Q: Didn’t magic have a big effect on you as a child?

A: I was 5 years old and I was the volunteer that went up onstage; that was the defining moment in my life. I didn’t know it was a trick. I really thought that this man had magic powers. The emotion of “I don’t know what this is but I want to be involved in it” is a very overwhelming feeling. I don’t get that feeling very often anymore, because I’ve been doing magic so long. But I get to relive that feeling vicariously through the audiences. For me, the best moment is when I have a kid onstage and I see him going through that same thing I did. My whole goal is to have the audience experience the thing I experienced 36 years ago.

Q: Has magic changed much since you started?

A: Magic hasn’t changed in 5,000 years. Just like the “Harry Potter” books, storytelling hasn’t changed in 5,000 years; you’re still trying to tell a story that has a human element and hooks the reader, and it’s the same thing with magic. The props might change and the outward appearance may change, but the essence of the art form hasn’t changed.

Q: What’s your biggest crowd-pleaser?

A: The audience will find their own favorites in the show. People who see a lot of magic or are amateur magicians come up to me after the show and say, “My favorite part of your show was the sleight-of-hand magic, because I can really appreciate all the work and the practice that goes into making it look easy.” Little kids will come up and say, “I like that part when you make the car disappear” or “You made the girl float in the air.” They kind of latch on to the big, spectacular tricks. As long as people find something they like, I guess I’m doing my job.

Q: How do you keep coming up with new illusions to keep it interesting?

A: That’s the hard part. You want to do something that’s interesting and has some plot twist. It’s like telling a story: You want to take the audience on a little journey, but you don’t want them to see the ending coming.

Q: Are you doing anything differently since “Harry Potter” hit theaters?

A: One of my favorite moments in the show, I disappear from the stage and instantly I appear in the middle of the audience. It’s one of those times when you don’t see it coming. I say, “Yeah, let’s see Harry Potter do that.”

Q: How does it feel now that you’re the veteran performer?

A: I’ve come full circle. Although I’m still learning, now I’ve got young kids asking me questions. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. You take what you’ve learned and pass it on to the next generation. I have a son who is in college. I’ve been teaching him magic. [He declined to give his name.]

Q: Did he appear with you onstage as he was growing up?

A: No, he’s just now getting interested. He’s 19. He’s starting at the beginning, doing birthday parties.

Q: Is there really much more that you can learn?

A: That’s the great thing about magic: You don’t study a few years and then you know it; you never know it all. I can still go out and learn something every night.

Q: Will there ever be a time you won’t do magic?

A: When I die!

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Lance Burton, Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos. Tonight, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. $45, $50, $55. Information: (800) 300-4345.