There is never any shortage of wonder when you visit the Chicago Magic Lounge. From the moment you step through the laundromat speakeasy entrance, that’s just the first of many wonders as tableside magicians warm you up with some intimate table magic before David Parr takes the stage as the Fall Artist in Residence through December 16.
The theme for this show: history, which is appropriate considering the historic roots Parr has as the Chicago Magic Lounge’s very first Artist in Residence. There are many history lessons wrapped up in this show. From the oldest trick in the book from 4,000 years ago, to the 1876 Dead Man’s Hand poker game, to Thomas Edison’s mixture of the paranormal with filament science, to Washington Irving Bishop’s mind reading trick, Parr takes us on a journey through time, paying homage to what came before and connecting the past to the present.
In addition to all the history stories, there’s even a math lesson in the form of the Winchester Mystery House that will leave you obsessively adding and subtracting and mixing numbers in your head to get anything other than 13. It also wouldn’t be a proper magic show without a philosophical segment, which Parr delivers with a trick from his first magic set he received as a 7 year old that set him on the trajectory that led to us all sitting in the Chicago Magic Lounge together with him that night. And even with a trick that he learned as a child magician, we were still left impressed.
Parr closes his show that’s been mixing mysterious mind reading, archival anecdotes, and masterful sleight of hand with one last historic encore: the trick that won him the coveted Penn & Teller Fool Us trophy. With a simple game of follow the leader, he fooled Penn & Teller, and — I feel confident speaking for my fellow audience members that night — he managed to fool us all too.
The whole night will leave you in disbelief, and that’s just the joy of magic. Parr’s presentation is simple and warm with just the right amount of humor and disarming jokes as the tricks that he’s spent months and years perfecting are executed with ease. The historical context that frames many of his tricks are both educational and effective in heightening the storytelling of the show. Magic is a timeless art full of secrets, and as Parr reveals through the course of Time Traveler, history is even stranger and more serendipitous than we know. You won’t want to miss a night full of amazement, mystery, and intrigue.
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