As the title of this show from James Phelan suggests, modesty isn’t one of his prime character traits.
He hits the stage running, talking a mile a minute about his prowess, what a great show this is, what a great career he has, how many showbiz celebrities think he’s wonderful (and they do: there’s no let-up even in the interval, when a high-volume, non-stop series of accolades from various of said celebrities are shown on screen), and engaging with individual audience members in standard comedy magician show manner.
The show is mainly a “mind reading”, stage hypnotist sort of thing, with just the odd card trick and clever illusion – apparently swallowing needles, for instance – but mainly consists of his talking about himself, where he’s toured, his relationship with his uncle, the late Paul Daniels, and how much he enjoys his job.
He’s an engaging sort of guy, and he goes down well with the sell-out audience, and with the individual audience members he ropes in to be bamboozled in various ways.
There are mathematical puzzles, and different strategies from the start of predicting what audience members are thinking, one or two of which don’t always work; but he carries on regardless, and no one seems to mind.
An enjoyable sort of evening, but ‘The Greatest Magician’ is pushing it a bit.
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Reviewer: John Christopher Wood | Star rating: ***