Ricky Jay seems to be the celebrity of choice in Canada as we lead up to the performance of his new show "Rogues Gallery" in Bathurst May 14-16. The first is "Man of Mysteries: from EyeWeekly, in which the Master Conjuror discusses everything from his early days opening for Cheech & Chong, his mentors Dai Vernon & Charlie Miller, and on to his first meeting with David Mamet, the Director of his stage shows. “David Mamet always used to say that he loved coming over to my house and going through print drawers and files because they’d become the introductions to all these crazy stories,” says Jay. “So we came up with the idea of doing that onstage. Many pieces that I’ve collected over the years will be projected on a screen and part of the show will allow people in the audience to suggest which images I will talk about. Some of these lead to performance pieces and others might lead to other surprising avenues.”
Now Toronto's Ricky Jay : He's a Magic Man describes Jay as the "odd man out" in the modern world of professional magicians which they describe as "re-envisioned, self-styled rock stars."
“You probably will not be seeing people dressed in fringe and severing various parts of their bodies,” Jay says about his act, on the phone from Los Angeles. “My show is a blend of sleight-of-hand, stories and conversation.”
Jay dodges comparisons to his contemporaries preferring instead to discuss his own style.
“One of my inspirations is old magic literature. Even as a kid, I realized that people who were interested in magic would buy the latest trick for sale, and I always wanted what I did to be different. My ideal crowd would be two or three people, but I do love live theatre.”
In this piece, they also offer several audio clips of Jay discussing the show. Listen Here:
- On his new show "A Rogue's Gallery" :: LISTEN TO THE MP3
- On his approach to performing :: LISTEN TO THE MP3
- On the difference between magicians :: LISTEN TO THE MP3
- On old magical texts for inspiration :: LISTEN TO THE MP3
In The Globe & Mail's article, "Ricky Jay conjures up a new kind of show," he focuses on the fact that "Rogue's Gallery" focuses not only on his love of conjuring, but also on himself.
“The first night I did it, someone happened to pick an image of my grandfather. I became quite emotional talking about him,” Jay acknowledged, then added, “I am one of these people who can wind up weeping at reruns of Gilligan's Island.” Still, he found that he “didn't dislike,” the way he felt, reacting like that in front of an audience.
- In addition, Listen to Ricky as a guest on CBC's "Q" the Podcast:
And.. there's yet one more...Ricky was the guest of honor on "The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulus" on May 13th, 2009. This one was particulary interesting because you actually get a preview of the show when Ricky comments on some of the images used in the show. Watch Here
Thanks to Silverking for sharing this additional info with us!