First published in 2018 but still accurate. Matt is amazing.
How is magician Matt Vizio different than other magicians?
We watched him tonight at the Peller Theatre at the Magic Castle and sensed something was different than others we had seen in the same venue over the years. Somehow, he was different, better than those we have seen before.
We learned more about what made him different after the show when we discovered the front row consisted of people who did not speak English all that well. Actually, it appeared they did not speak English beyond a few polite phrases.
Mr. Vizio is an accomplished magician and stand-up comedian and one of those two talent sets require the ability to communicate effectively with the audience generally and with the volunteers specifically. So what would he do? How do you do a Confabulation routine if your volunteer doesn’t speak the language of the routine?
If it had been us, we would have just plowed along hoping to get some words we could use. But then again, we are not Mr. Vizio.
He was able to change his act immediately and present a parlor show using volunteers from the audience (2 out of 3) who didn’t use English as a primary language. He did it with class and kindness and though he knew they could not understand him, he performed with them as perfect partners in a very entertaining act.
It was an act different in content than what he had planned but no one noticed. Not even our trained eyes saw that he was changing his presentation to meet the situation.
We supposed that all true professionals of our Art could do the same. But the fact that we have seen it so rarely happen demonstrated how few true professionals there are in our Art.
We have seen alleged professionals lose their temper, curse, and call the audience volunteer a liar as a trick goes wrong. And these performers are the putative top of our pack.
But Mr. Vizio didn’t need to attack the volunteers. He worked with them, silently when necessary, to perform effects he thought or hoped might work in that situation. And last night, at one particular show, he was correct. It is a small sample size – one show – but we bet he would succeed in a similar situation virtually every time. He is focused, polite and clearly involved with his audience.
Mr. Vizio is professional to the core, never embarrassing his volunteers specifically or the audience generally, but always ready to craft the show to meet the audience on their terms.
We could talk about the tricks he performed but they may be different from those you see when you visit the Peller Theatre this week. The magic you will see is all Mr. Vizio.
Inside Magic Rating: Five out of Five. Our Highest.
Check out Mr. Vizio’s website here: http://mattvizio.com
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