Anthony Street has evolved from his first tour as a one-man band to having a team.
Ahead of his 22-stop New Zealand tour currently travelling the country, Jodi Bryant spoke with world-renowned Illusionist Anthony Street about how he entered the world of magic and what Northland audiences can expect when he performs here this coming week.
Whangārei and Kerikeri audiences will be left scratching their heads in wonderment after an Aussie illusionist sweeps through Northland.
They might also find themselves handing over their prized possessions, only to watch them vanish before their eyes, in what internationally renowned performer Anthony Street cites as his favourite trick.
“I love doing magic with people in the audience and borrowing items. There’s one I do where I borrow three wedding rings and that trick is very magical – it’s the trick that people talk about for months later. It’s the one that annoys them the most, it just really gets to them.”
Street is currently touring New Zealand with his latest show, Illusionist Anthony Street, which features intimate, jaw-dropping magic with mind-reading, vanishing, levitation, escapes and plenty of audience participation, mixed with personal storytelling, heart, humour and awe woven through the whānau-friendly show.
It was a simple rope trick he witnessed at a local carnival at the age of eight which drew him into the world of magic. Watching the magician connect three pieces of rope perfectly into one blew his mind and he knew he wanted to give other people that same feeling.
He asked Santa for a magic kit that Christmas and he provided the entertainment whenever friends and family got together.
“I was doing little shows all the time and I was a huge fan of David Copperfield, who is the best illusionist in the world, so I had this dream to create a huge touring show doing magic like he did,” he recalls.
However, magic took a back seat when, as a teenager, Street watched Riverdance and fell in love with Irish dance and worked his way onto the world stage in Lord of the Dance. It wasn’t until 2011 when he realised he could combine his two passions and talents and created Celtic Illusion, a creative fusion of the two art forms – contemporary Irish dance and illusion.
He took a massive risk and booked a tour, managing every job in the lead-up and used his life savings to fund the tour, which travelled to many countries, including New Zealand. It was dubbed a “smash hit” and, since then Street has created other large-scale dance shows, but Illusionist Anthony Street is a bold new show where the spotlight falls not just on the magic, but the man behind it. His most personal yet, it’s about his childhood dreams, the challenges behind the scenes, and the joy of bringing real magic into people’s lives.
“It’s not just about grand-scale illusions anymore,” he says. “It’s about connection. It’s about those close-up, intimate moments that feel even more impossible. And it’s about inviting the audience right into it, getting people up on stage, making them part of the experience.”
He says, like many kids, he wanted to be a superhero and “being a magician kind of allows you to live that to a degree. We make people float, we make people disappear, all the things superheroes would do.”
However, it is very much an art form.
“Anyone can learn a trick but it’s the way you deliver and perform it,” he explains. “There’s so much more to performing magic than just doing it. It really is an art form, especially when it comes to the illusion. It’s not as simple as putting a girl into a box. It all comes down to choreography, music, lighting, the script, because talking to the audience, you’re really cementing the emotions, feelings and expectations. You’re not just convincing them, you’re leading them down the path of what they’re going to see and it helps them enjoy the performance even more.
“I still look up to David Copperfield. Every trick he does is done with precision and style, he really made magic famous.”
Yet, Street says it’s a simple card trick which gets the best response during his show. “There’s this card trick I do that brings the house down. It’s a trick that everyone in the audience does. They all have a deck of cards and they all go crazy, everyone loses it.”
Off-stage, Street doesn’t like doing magic on request.
“I’m quite shy and not so confident in everyday life but, onstage, I’m confident. When people ask me to do magic on request, I’m extremely uncomfortable with it,” he confides.
Running from July 6 to August 10, this show is not only Street’s biggest New Zealand tour but is his most ambitious show to date, bringing magic to 22 towns and cities from Northland to Otago. He will be performing at the Kerikeri Turner Centre on Sunday, July 13, and Whangārei’s Forum North on Monday, July 14.
“I’ve been bringing shows to New Zealand since 2016, and it honestly feels like a second home,” says Street, who resides in Melbourne. “The people here are some of the nicest I’ve ever met – open, warm, and totally up for the ride.”
Although he has toured New Zealand as frequently as just last year, he believes this is his first time performing in Northland.
“I’ve always wanted to cover every town possible. We know there’s a lot of theatres across the country and love to take the show to regional towns.”
And Street will be recreating that first rope trick, the one that started it all, bringing his journey full circle.
“It’s going to sound very underwhelming,” he says, when asked to describe it. “It’s a very simple old classic with three different lengths of rope and you magically stretch them all to the same length and they can be handed out to the audience. It’s such a simple, basic trick but it changed my entire life.”
Tickets can be purchased from Eventfinda.