Posted on: May 30, 2023, 04:29h.
Last updated on: May 30, 2023, 04:42h.
A magical new Las Vegas experience takes a cue from the Magic Castle in Los Angeles, the secret lair reserved only for working magicians and the people connected to them.
The 21-and-over show, set in a faux library, features flying handkerchiefs, $50 bills that vanish and reappear inside cracked-open walnuts, and other nifty demonstration of close-up sleight-of-hand.
“There are other shows in town that pretend to be interactive, and the performer literally walks out and says, ‘What was your favorite toy growing up?’ and doesn’t even listen to the answer,” The Rabbit told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “He just starts rattling off his jokes. I watched that and thought, ‘You’re really not connecting with them.’ I want, when people leave the Study, they have connected with me by the end of the night.”
Not only is the Magician’s Study intentionally difficult to gain entry to, it is also a relative secret in many ways, relying on word of mouth and mysterious Instagram posts to fill its 40 seats.
One of its secrets is its location inside a venue that most Las Vegas regulars have never heard of. It’s a 300-room boutique hotel occupying the upper floors of a major Las Vegas Strip resort — accessible only via a private elevator — that was renovated and rebranded as a joint venture between MGM Resorts and the Sydell Group in June 2016.
Another secret is the identity of its prestidigitating host, who wears a rabbit mask — which people sometimes compare to the electronic DJ Deadmau5 — and goes only by “The Rabbit.”
Though the R-J has referred to The Rabbit as “an identifiable entertainer,” so far, no journalist has revealed his identity — no doubt because doing so would draw scorn for ruining the mystery for everyone else. His mask does come off at the start of every show, but only after all phones are tucked away. (Unlike at an arena magic show, enforcement of this policy is easy in such cramped quarters.)
The Magician’s Study show runs Thursday through Sunday at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Tickets, $99-$169, are released in limited increments. Currently, only 19% of June’s tickets remain, according to www.themagiciansstudy.com.
But wait, you didn’t think it was that easy, did you? To purchase tickets, you must enter a secret codeword. And that codeword is something you’ll either need to get by either hounding Vegas influencers or the operators of the website, who have included an RSVP contact form.
