Great Read – An American magician takes his tricks to China..
Magician Franz Harary is driving through the Las Vegas of China, trying to remember the last time he did a show in the United States. “Three years ago, maybe?” he says tentatively. “I think it was some Christmas thing. Or maybe it was an Indian casino.”
As he pulls into the parking lot of a new $3.2-billion casino resort called Studio City, the gate attendant gives him a blank stare. “Do you have a pass?” he asks.
Harary is used to it. Though he’s made the space shuttle disappear, levitated Michael Jackson and filled scores of stadium shows across Asia, the 53-year-old has neither the debonair air of a David Copperfield nor the goth theatricality of a Criss Angel to mark him as a celebrity offstage. His L.A. publicist even touts him with the somewhat awkward brag: “The most famous magician on planet Earth is a guy you’ve never heard of.”
“My name’s in the computer,” Harary tells the guard with not a hint of annoyance. “Have a look.”
But now the Hollywood-based illusionist can just point to the Studio City marquee. On Tuesday, the casino opened Franz Harary’s House of Magic, a permanent, $40-million venue with a rotating cast of magicians. Read more..
http://www.latimes.com/world/great-reads/la-fg-c1-macau-magician-20151028-story.html