The purported hollowing out of the American dream has recently been the subject of many a hand-wringing headline or newspaper column. But that dented dream finds a vote of confidence from an unexpected source: the magician Helder Guimarães, who’s performing his solo show “The Hope Theory,” a novel blend of stage memoir and classic playing-card illusions, at New York City Center’s most intimate theater.
Mr. Guimarães grew up in Portugal, the first member of his family to be born after the “Carnation Revolution” of 1974, which earned its name, he explains, after a florist popped carnations into the barrels of the rifles of soldiers who led the military coup against a repressive government. Mr. Guimarães makes a metaphor of the importance of individual rights with his first bit of sleight of hand. After audience members have chosen cards from a pack, he turns each card into a joker, which he uses to signify “lack of freedom.” He adds, “Nobody wants to live in a world where their individuality is questioned or worse, denied.” A pack of cards made up exclusively of jokers would be useless, just as a society that devalues the individual would be inert.
On his second visit to the U.S., Mr. Guimarães performed at what might be the international locus of all things magical, the famed Magic Castle, a private club in Hollywood where professionals perform and the smitten gather to celebrate them. (Big-time fan Neil Patrick Harris once served as the board president.) There he met a TV writer, Jason, who showed him around the city and, as he says, “I started to fall in love with Los Angeles: the melting pot of culture, the diversity of interesting people, and the free refills.” A proto-American was born. Mr. Guimarães began the process of obtaining U.S. citizenship, bringing along his girlfriend, Catarina, in the hope that she, too, could settle here.
As he unfolds the tortuous details of their journey, Mr. Guimarães blends into the tale various tricks, most relying on a standard pack of Ace playing cards. Looking like a junior professor in his crisp jeans, vest and nerdy-trendy red-framed eyeglasses, Mr. Guimarães has an easygoing amiability that makes his invitations to participate in the show feel like casual outreaches to friends. As a fan of classic illusions, I found the apparent simplicity of the card tricks an engaging diversion from and a nicely pointed complement to the story of Mr. Guimarães’s adjustment to life in a new country.
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