Forum Under Magic Spell
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
An interesting press piece about the WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM appeared in the Herald-Sun this morning.
It featured this interesting paragraph about our friend Greg Frewin (I love his last quote):
Master Sorcerer
Whenever hobgoblins get in on the act, Greg Frewin takes note. The 44-year-old Canadian from Niagara Falls is the International Grand Champion of Magic, a title awarded by his peers in the $250-million-a-year illusion industry to the professional sorcerer who wins first prize in the world’s top three magic competitions.
Frewin, who manages his own $2 million theater and a staff of 50 assistants, has played the Tropicana and Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, and staged command performances for Toronto- Dominion Bank and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Right now, he’s turning $100 bills into $1 bills.
“This routine is so popular that they used it at Lehman Brothers,” Frewin jokes.
As he tells it, there’s no difference between him levitating a scantily clad showgirl on stage and a credit-rating company elevating a subprime security on Wall Street.
“In both cases, the audience is led to believe they’re seeing the impossible become true” he says. “Illusionists call it misdirection.”