Making Magic
Mario the Maker Magician takes his inspiring show from Maker Faire to an NYC theater
Mario Marchese is a really great performer on stage. His magic show for kids was very popular at Maker Faire Bay Area. After the Bay Area show, he went down to LA to do some performances for schools. (Make has published two books of his, The Maker Magician’s Handbook and Robot Magic. Mario was also featured on Maker Camp during Covid.)
Watching Mario is a study in holding the attention of a large group of kids. He really is amazing. How he interacts with them is like a conductor facing an orchestra — he is both working them and playing them. He knows how they will respond — and that’s the real magic of his show.
He leads them to think that a trick isn’t working, and that they have figured it out, until something unexpected happens and they are delighted. He also takes rather ordinary things and turns them into something extraordinary, like red shoe laces that he pulls out of his shoe and which later they fly across the stage. In his Handbook, he writes: “The very first routine you do in a show has to be strong and easy for your audience to understand.” He could be talking to teachers but he’s talking to kids, getting them to think about creating their own magic show.
I was really happy to see a feature article by Adam Green about Mario in Vogue Magazine of all places. Mario brings his show to the Soho Playhouse in NYC.
The Enchanted Life of Mario Marchese, the “Best Children’s Magician in the World”
Mario is back at the Soho Playhouse, with a hilarious, high-octane show that blends astonishment, anarchy, and several jerry-rigged robots with an inspiring message about the importance of being who you are, doing what you love, and making magic out of the ordinary. It is a testament to Mario’s charm, charisma, and gleeful insanity as a performer–not to mention his singular gift for meeting kids exactly where they are–that, though his magic tricks (which are superb) flew over my daughter’s head when she was two, she went nuts along with the other kids in the audience and, clutching a souvenir plastic robot arm, careened out of the theater mad with joy. Since then, she has continued to ask, “Where Mario Maker ’gician go?” and “When we go ’nother show?” When I recently told her that I was taking her to see Mario again this coming weekend, she squealed.
“Mad with joy” is a great reaction. Don’t we all wish we could elicit that kind of response from a child? Magic is special.
However, I’ll bet that you can’t get that same “mad” response from watching YouTube or a TV show. It lacks the intensity, the madness, that comes across in Mario’s on stage show or in many other live performances.
Mario encourages kids to think about what they can do, tells them they can make cool things out of everyday materials, and explore what interests them. “What do you love? What are the things that make you happy?” He adds: “The more you think about those things, the more you will discover the unique story and style of YOU.”