Stefano Giovannini
Abracadabra, make some magic in brownstone Brooklyn!
A new performing arts venue on the border of Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights is bringing top tier magicians to the borough — and it’s one hot ticket.
Since it opened in mid-October, every show at 69 Atlantic has sold out. The intimate 18-seat venue offers the chance to see amazing sleight of hand up close. Front row tickets go for as much as $175 but offer a vantage point just a few feet from the action. (Standing room tickets start at $75.)
Thus far, the theater has hosted German conjurer Denis Behr; LA-based mentalist Rob Zabrecky, who has won six awards from the Academy of Magical Arts; and Aspen-based illusionist Eric Mead, who performed what Penn Jillette called “the finest sleight of hand” he had ever seen.
“People fly in from all over the world to perform here,” said Adam Rubin, the 41-year-old co-owner of the space. “Even if you don’t know who’s coming next week, you know it’s going to be somebody incredible.”
He and his business partners, twins Dan and Dave Buck, 40, opened the venue with the aim of bringing in a rotating cast of world-class performers, the way downtown clubs bring in various esteemed magicians.
“We wanted to create a place like the Village Vanguard [but for magic],” said Rubin.
Fans, not just performers, travel from afar for shows.
Kevin Kapinos, 28, came from Chicago to see Mead at 69 Atlantic’s opening weekend.
“There are very few venues built for doing an actual close-up show where everyone’s close enough that they can actually see a card face-up on the table without squinting,” he enthused, adding, “Traditionally, if you wanted to see someone like Eric Mead, the only way to do it was to have your company hire him for a corporate party, or be lucky enough to be invited to a private show somewhere.”
In a neat trick, the venue is a curiosity shop called Art of Play by day. It sells everything from unique puzzles and card decks to games and tricks.
The Bucks actually started Art of Play as a playing card company 12 years ago. Rubin, who designs puzzles and optical illusions, joined two years later.
The trio had long dreamed of opening a store in New York City. When they found the Atlantic Avenue space, they realized it had the potential to be a venue for both retail and performances.
The shop/theater is part of a recent magic boom.
“It started about 10 years ago, with David Blaine and then all these magic talent shows on TV,” said Hal Schulman, the 25-year-old manager of 69 Atlantic.
“And then in New York, burlesque and cabaret venues started giving seven minutes to magicians, and it went from there,” added Schulman, who also works in the camera department at “Saturday Night Live.”
In Manhattan, Speakeasy Magick on 24th Street, and Magic After Hours, near Herald Square, feature local magicians doing close-up magic. But there wasn’t a place to see performers from outside the Big Apple at close proximity — until now.
Last Friday evening, a group of 20 or so adults gathered to see the Scottish magician and comedian Stuart MacLeod, formerly of the BAFTA-nominated duo Barry and Stuart and resident medium at the Houdini seance room at Los Angeles’ esteemed Magic Castle.
Some in the audience had never been to a magic show before. Others had travelled from far away.
“I have been a fan [of MacLeod] since middle school,” said 26-year-old John Fava, who’d taken the train from Albany for the performance and planned to take a bus back.
“I brought a neck pillow,” joked the mechanical engineer.
At 9:30 p.m., a mechanical songbird performed a little tune for the audience and a secret door in the wall opened.
MacLeod, dressed in an elegant tweed three-piece suit, conducted a seance, complete with mind-reading and spirit-conjuring. He even turned water into wine — and, at the request of one audience member, a cosmo.
“How did you do that?” asked an astonished audience member.
MacLeod said he rarely leaves Los Angeles, but he couldn’t say no to Rubin and the rest of the crew — even if it meant leaving his two young kids for the weekend.
He said, “Really, the people that are running this space make it special.”