Jamie Allan’s performances marry illusion and technology to create astounding magic events, such as a Mercedes-Benz appearing out of thin air or making a helicopter disappear and reappear on the deck of a cruise ship.
His fascination with magic, though, was sparked by one of the oldest tricks in the book: the disappearing ball.
His father explained how the illusion was created. Jamie, around 6 at the time, was transfixed.
“I just found it fascinating that you could make it look like you were doing something that you, in fact, were not,” Jamie said.
Jamie already had been curious enough to purchase a magic kit, but he hadn’t quite grasped it yet.
“If I had to point at one moment in my life where the penny dropped, that was it,” Jamie said. “I thought that was incredible, that it looked like you did something, and you didn’t.”
Amaze, Jamie’s current show, draws on his memories of childhood and his lifelong fascination with magic. Acclaimed as “a masterclass in magic” by the Chicago Tribune, the show is coming to Straz for a two-week run beginning May 1.
Becoming a performer seemed predestined for Jamie.
“My whole family is in show business,” Jamie said. “It was a very normal way forward for me.”
Jamie’s parents were touring entertainers who decided to leave the road to provide more stability for their young son.
“They settled down and they bought a pub, which was kind of an unusual choice for having a normal life,” Jamie said with laugh. It had its advantages, though. “They built a small theater in this pub that seated about 150 people. And so I did my first shows there when I was 8.”
Amaze features plenty of magic to astonish and amaze, but there’s also a dramatic arc and some very poignant and touching moments.
“At its heart, it’s a magic show,” Jamie said, but “there’s a tremendous narrative with it, more so than we’ve done with the magic show before. I think that’s why it really affects people. People find it very emotional toward the end.
“We’ve all got a story to tell,” Jamie said. The story in Amaze “deals with love and loss. There are so many things that everybody associates with, that are a big part of our show.”
The audience also is a big part of the show.
“We use an awful lot of audience participation, and there are two major parts in the show which involve the entire audience,” Jamie said. Without revealing details, Jamie said that these parts of the show “bring everybody together in one moment that they’ve all witnessed and felt that same moment of wonder.
“What we’ve tried to do is find moments in the show that bond the audience as one,” Jamie said. “Everybody gets to feel that sense of wonder. They remember this moment and the reaction is so visceral and they all feel like part of it.”
Jamie gained fame for his use of technology in his shows, branding himself iMagician early in his career. His use of iPads is one of his most famous bits.
“I started creating magic with tech at a time when tech was very magical,” Jamie said. “And now I find that technology is so incredibly magical that you almost can’t compete. It’s difficult to draw the line between when is it magic and when is it tech.
“So we still use tech in the show, a lot of it, but we are using it to tell the story,” Jamie said. “We still do my famous trick with the iPads. And we do a tremendous routine which involves the entire audience, in which everybody is on their phones at the same time. This incredible thing happens to everybody at once. And that’s a really big moment in the show. One of the biggest actually.”
Amaze will be presented May 1-11 in Jaeb Theater. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling (813) 229-7827.