Mike Super brings ‘Magic & Illusion’ to the Vilar

Mike Super, winner of NBC’s “Phenomenon,” top finalist on “America’s Got Talent!” and the man who amazed Penn & Teller on “Fool Us” works his magic at the Vilar Aug. 21.

Super’s family-friendly show brims with lively music, humor and magic, with immersive audience interaction.

Magic first intrigued him around age 6, when he walked into a magic store during a family trip to Disney World.

“They spent all that money to get into Disney World, and I just wanted to watch magic tricks,” Super said. “So, my mom, in exasperation, said, ‘Michael, we’ll give you $10,’ which, back in that day, was like $100, ‘if you just come ride the rides.’ So the deal was done, and then at the end, when we left, I got to buy some of my first magic tricks.”

That $10 went quite far, actually extending full circle when Super ultimately secured a gig performing for Disney.

Support Local Journalism

Donate

The Disney experience helped him craft performances that would not only keep a span of generations entertained, from grandparents to grandkids, but also become a tradition.

“Then you have a built-in audience that just keeps refreshing itself for generations, and I just think there’s real power in that. So I’ve tried to model that,” he said.

These days, he’s had to speed up tricks that might have taken 5 minutes when he debuted professionally about 20 years ago to about 30 seconds, since people’s attention span has decreased.

“You have to keep it moving and changing and engaging their curiosity much faster because that’s what cell phones do,” he said.

While most shows encourage people to turn off their phones — or at least not pay attention to them — he employs the audience’s cell phones to deliver magic directly into their hands, by, say, “reading their minds.”

But, as he points out, simply reading someone’s mind is too old-school.

“Now you have to do that while you’re levitating them to the newest TikTok trend song. One slow trick wouldn’t work in today’s society. So I’ll take three ideas that, back in the day, would have been three solid pieces, and put them all into one. So, if I’m reading one person’s mind, you take another person and you’re linking to them and they’re feeling physical touches from the other person, and all the while, you’re revealing something that they don’t see coming as a kicker— just for one trick. It’s a challenge that I really like,” he said, adding that it involves a lot of improvisation, which leads to a new experience for him every time.

Being a people person also adds to his charm.

“I’ve always been sort of a big goof and a lot of fun, in that I don’t take myself seriously at all. So instead of standing there dramatic in a tuxedo going, ‘Look what I can do,’ (I say things like) ‘I don’t even know if this is gonna work; we’re gonna try this together.’ And I’m usually just as amazed as they are,” he said. “I go on a journey with them, but amazement, for me, is never enough, so I try to make them laugh. When the audience realizes you’re not taking yourself so seriously or being superior, they end up enjoying the performance. Your little kids like it, parents like it for a different reason and even teenagers like it. It’s a rare experience when everyone can relate all together for maybe different reasons.”

He feels both humbled and complemented when, after the show, people comment that he could make it solely as a stand-up comic. 

“It is theater, so I try to involve different emotions, whether it’s fear or sentimentality,” he said.

Though he doesn’t take himself seriously, he does take his craft to obsession-like lengths, practicing at least three hours daily. But he doesn’t consider it work. In fact, he might pull out a trick for an interested waitstaff at a restaurant or work with a deck of cards during a two-hour flight.

“It’s just a natural thing for me. If I have a coin in my hand, I try to invent different moves. It’s a never-ending process,” he said.

His teenagers act as his worst critics, honing his skills.

“If I can get them to even watch a piece of magic, is a miracle because, you know, if your parent does it, it can’t be cool. But when I do, and they go, ‘That was really cool — Wait a minute. What happened there?’ I know it’s a good piece,” he said.

He builds tricks around shared experiences, such as getting creeped out at night if you hear a strange sound, as well as ideas from audience members after shows. For example, plenty of people told him it’d be amazing if he could predict winning lottery numbers, so he does just that— and Penn and Teller loved it on “Fool Us.”

“Unfortunately, none of my magic is real. People think they’re making free choices, but maybe they’re not, so that tends to play in big and (explains) why I’m not a millionaire owning islands,” he said about audience members’ number choices on the state-documented lottery tickets.

He refers to himself as the “gateway theater drug,” which leads younger generations to fall in love with live performances — as opposed to staying glued to their devices.

“It’s a safe thing to bring your family to, and they’re going to most likely enjoy it,” he said, adding, “That’s one of the real magical things about it, is it (shows) them there’s more than just screens.”

Oh, and by the way: Super IS his real name.

“I would never make that up,” he said.

He’s met about four other people he’s unrelated to with the name Mike Super, and every time, they all pull out their driver’s licenses, because no one believes it.

While he has performed at the Vilar Center in Beaver Creek before, he alters shows each time. He doesn’t want to give anything away, but said that this time, the audience will play a huge influence.

“It’s almost like a movie’s alternate endings that you get to choose,” he said.

He’ll also levitate someone from the seating area, as opposed to simply on stage, as well as control a spectator’s body against his or her will.

“The person most amazed is the significant other of the person up there. They’re always like, ‘Oh my goodness, I want to buy that voodoo doll from you.’ It’s very funny, but it’s all family friendly,” he said, adding that he comes up with intricate methods to select an audience member so that people “know that none of it is set up,” such as the audience deciding when to stop bouncing a giant beach ball from person to person.

He’ll also introduce audiences to his “imaginary” friend, which no one believes exists until they feel him moving around them in the theater. And, he said that if he does a trick someone has seen on television, it’ll be bigger, better and more fun.