Abracadabra! The Show Goes On (Virtually)
WDCB’s Gary Zidek catches up with third generation magician & mind-reader Dennis Watkins.
LISTEN
“There was a day when I did a show in Dubai, a show in Singapore, a show in the U.K. and a show in Chicago, all in one day! Four different shows, in four different countries, and that is not possible outside of the virtual world.” - Magician Dennis Watkins talking about the pros of performing virtually.
Behind-the-scenes of Dennis Watkins’ The Magic Parlour at Home set-up
Before the pandemic, if you were looking for third generation magician Dennis Watkins on any given day, chances are you would him on stage somewhere performing. The Chicago-based magician and mind-reader estimates he performed around 400 times a year pre-pandemic. Of course everything changed when COVID-19 began to spread in the spring of 2020.
Once all in-person events were shut down, Watkins realized the pandemic and restrictions that come along with it, might be around for awhile. So, he started working on a virtual version of his long-running in-person magic show, The Magic Parlour. It took some time to perfect, but Watkins’ new The Magic Parlour at Home is a now a well-oiled interactive show entertaining audiences all over the world. People can log-on and participate in Watkins show similar to the ways they would if they came to The Magic Parlour show at the Palmer House Hilton pre-pandemic.
Magician & mind-reader Dennis Watkins