Sebastian Walton is the real deal. We watched this young man perform in the Parlour of Prestidigitation at the world-famous Magic Castle and were blown away on many levels.
First of all, he is young.
Not “Young for the Castle” kind of young but younger. Young as in “you cannot buy liquor or rent a car or legally join on-line dating services” kind of young.
He claims to be 18 and that is possible but what is unlikely is that he is that good with so little in the way of real life performing experience. He has won several of the Magic Circle’s young magician awards, performed on UK television and has been seen by royalty. That is a lot to accomplish in a decade. That is a lot to accomplish in a lifetime. The closest we have come to being viewed by royalty involved a webcam with someone who said they were a royal or something like that.
How can someone just 18 years-of-age know how to handle a sophisticated magic audience in a foreign country with such skill?
Presumably he has never been booed off the stage by seven year-olds whilst (that’s UK talk for “while”) performing a show for free in a public library during a heat wave in coastal Florida all the while wondering if his borrowed dove is going to survive waiting its production in the big finale. He has never tried to squeeze in one last performance of a home-made Zig-Zag before his once svelte female assistant goes into labor. We doubt he has ever herniated himself trying to blow-up balloon animals for a mall’s worth of demanding kids.
There is only one explanation for this phenomenon. He must be talented beyond his years.
He began his routine with an extraordinary routine wherein any audience member called the name of a card and he caused it to rise from, shoot out of, escape or otherwise mysteriously appear from a freely-handled deck of cards. It was something to see. We were in the back row of the Parlor and were blown away by his presence and audience management abilities.
We were in the back row because this young man has followers who cued (UK talk for “got in line”) to get the prime. Some of the fans were from his home country and were very polite and proper in their refusal to allow us to sit on their laps or lay across two of them.
But even from the cheap seats, we marveled at how he owned the room and he held them in his unblemished (by liver spots and excessive wrinkles seen on performers of our ancient demographic) palm with a charming confidence.
We were honored that he came downstairs to the Museum and caught part of act. We wanted to stop our ramblings and messy sleights to introduce him to the room ala Ed Sullivan (a reference Mr. Walton will need to do the Google to learn) but were so self-conscious that we thought it best to remain focused on the task at hand (wrinkled and bespotted though that hand was).
He performed incredible demonstration of card dexterity for a cheering throng, we tried to remember which side of the TV Magic Cards we were supposed to have face-up. At least that was what we felt at the time.
Mr. Walton will be appearing at The Castle this weekend and should not be missed. He is a genuine star – not a genuine “future” star or promising young performer — the real deal.
Check out his impressive credentials and promotional materials on his website here.
Whatever!
