When a magician truly wishes to mystify the crowd, bring them to their feet, be worthy of a moments worship, they are able to accomplish what would normally be impossible. To be legendary, the magician needs to do something totally and completely original to have an everlasting impression. There is one however who chooses to stand outside this paradigm. Her act is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. She doesn’t advertise or market. She does stand on a soap box and ask you to step right up and prepare to be changed forever. Her act is unmentioned and her venue is unknown. Very few have ever seen her show. To see it though…oh to see it. It’s truly incredible.
It always starts with the lights out, the curtains down, a single spot light on her. Her costume is a tattered black tail coat, a top hat, black stockings, and blood red stilettos. Beautiful once, but she's done this show so many times before, usually to an empty house. The show must go on. She wears make up but only to fool you into thinking she’s someone else. Somehow she’s always able to make her face look like someone else in the crowd. When no one is there she can be invisible. She prefers this. With a flip of her cane and a tip of her hat picks one out and invites them on stage. Soon the guest has become the magician and the magician disappears without the crowd noticing at all. When the magician reappears she’s in the crowd herself and no one has noticed. When the crowd sees what she has done they sit in silent awe.
For her second act she wipes her face clean and reveals herself. The crowd still sits in silent shock suddenly realizing she is not at all what she produced in her introduction. They see a beautiful woman but her arms are outstretched and her hands are up casting a black shadow on her face. A drum begins pounding and a violin pitches. She begins to dance. Her tempo is off beat, her rhythms out of sync with the instruments but she is completely mesmerizing. If you avert your eyes, if only for a second, you’ve missed it. The dance becomes meaningless. If you stare without blinking though, watch every movement carefully you begin to notice she is moving in slow motion. She is trying to tell you something. To each person who stays and watches she says something different with each step. The tempo and fervor of her dance increases by the moment. She tears at her costume as she pitches and rolls on the stage. The instruments urge her on. The dance continues and its intensity grows. Still she manages to cover her face with shadow. The crowd squints and stares hoping to see all of her. Some call out for her. Some get up and leave. Some cry. Some laugh.
The magician suddenly stops. The music stops. She slowly brings her hands down, her eyes visible through her fingers, palms toward her face. Her hands slide down her body seductively and she is wearing a harlequin's mask. Two tears are painted in a playful sky blue on the right cheek and wisps of her auburn hair cascade over the top of the mask, making it appear as if it just might be her real face. Some are fooled. Some are not. The lips are as red as her shoes and are just slightly down turned. Her tail coat is in tatters strewn across the stage, not unlike a gruesome murder has happened here. Her stockings are ripped torn,the results of another lover's rapture. Her shoes sparkle and shine gloriously in the spot light. She is all but naked on the stage. She begins a pantomime. She beings a waltz with her fictional lover. She moves so well in the dance it is as if her lover were real and had the lead. Her hands drop and her head tilts, nods, and shakes. She is angry. She lays down on the stage and her lover lays above her. She sighs obviously and turns her head to look at the crowd. More leave. Some move closer to the stage to try to get a better look. Her hands caress her body running over her chest, down her torso, between her legs, then slap hard on the stage at her sides. She gets up violently and throws her hands up in anger. A series of hard jumps, pitches and rolls intertwined by painful looking slow contortions and twists. Without a word she then begins to plead with her lover. Then chase her lover. Then give up in despair. She sits on the edge of the stage with her face in her hands softly sobbing.
There is hardly anyone left at the venue. Those left stand and give her and ovation for her outstanding performance. She stands and the light dims down to almost total blackness. When they rise she is standing. The magician is naked now with the exception of her shoes which have carried her through the last few acts without fail and have remained as beautiful as they were when the show started. She looks more magnificent now then when the first spotlight fell on her. She is free of her old, worn out costume and presents what people came to see anyway. More leave. She calls for a male audience member to the stage and explains that her next trick will be her last for the evening. She promises amazement. There’s only one audience member left and he steps up on her request. She asks him to remove her mask and he sees that she’s been presenting an illusion for the entirety of the show. She instructs him to embrace her. He does. She tells him to close his eyes. He does. She tells him to count to three. He does. He opens his eyes and she’s gone. The greatest disappearing act in history had been achieved…until her next show.