Before the Magic Castle tour started, I told Siegfried that I saw Borrowed Time on his suggestion and loved it. He told me that Helder used to do an amazing show called Nothing to Hide with a partner, Derek DelGaudio. They had been doing the act at the Magic Castle for a while, but Neil Patrick Harris thought it was so great it needed a bigger audience, so he set them up with a run at the Geffen Playhouse. That became such a hit, they even took it to New York for off-Broadway performances. Sadly, the show has ended, but Derek DelGaudio is now doing a solo show back at the Geffen called In & Of Itself.
And Frank Oz is the director? Say no more, say no more! I looked up tickets as soon as I got home that night. The critics’ reviews are off the charts!
“It’s hard to imagine any evening at the theater being more personal, more moving, or more magical.” – Los Angeles magazine
“Derek has created the best magic show I’ve ever seen and that might be damning with faint praise. It’s Marcel Duchamp and Andy Kaufman if they could do perfect bottom deals.” — Penn Jillette
I got to the Geffen a bit early and got a drink in the lobby. Unfortunately, they told me that I could not bring food or drink into the theater, so I had to down my beer. Between the lobby and the theater was a small room with a pegboard holding lots of little tags, each one printed with a different “I am…” statement. The staff asked us to each pick one before we went in. I was sad to find that there was no “I am Batman!” tag, so I had to make do:
Then I shuffled into the theater and the usher took the bottom half of my tag as he showed me my seat. The stage was set very minimally, but your eyes are drawn to the six windows in the back wall, mirroring the six-bullet revolver from the show poster.
The show is still on-going, so I will not give away anything that happens. I will tell you, though, that the critics were right. The tricks were amazing, but more than that, the story was moving and it all tied together really well. I did not see the elephant or find the brick. Hopefully you will see the show for yourself and do better than I did.