Penn & Teller Live Review: With Flourishes, Jokes, and a Sprinkle of Magic, Penn & Teller Mostly Succeed in their Family-Oriented Show

As the lights dim in the Shubert Theatre in Boston, a palpable buzz of excitement comes over the crowd, waiting for the Las Vegas TV magic stars Penn & Teller to take the stage. The duo, best known for their show “Penn & Teller: Fool Us,” in which they invite professional magicians to perform and attempt to outwit the two, are currently embarking on a tour of the United States where they perform both their well-known tricks and some new material.

Right from the outset, the show is disconnected from what a “normal magic show” might feel like — the performance is meant to be a mix of magic and comedy, after all. Rather than adopting an air of mystery, Penn immediately dives into rambunctious mannerisms and cruel humor, employing his booming, gravelly voice to make fun of anything and everything in sight.

Audience participation is central to the show, with the first trick being a safe enough display of cutting and magically reattaching a sheet of fabric, using a small girl from the audience as an assistant. From there, another audience member is immediately called up to start counting coins, starting the long build-up to a very satisfying trick of predicting what several audience members wrote down for their guesses of the number of jelly beans in a jar. While not particularly unique in the magic world, audience participation is popular for a reason — the audience-performer connection it forms is significant, and the little gifts that the participants received after completing their jobs certainly helped endear the performers to the audience.

Shedding the traditional mystique of a magic show, some of the more intriguing segments came in the form of explanations. For a few tricks, such as removing a donut from a string threaded through its hole, Penn explains both the history and the method behind the trick as Teller performs it in a manner that dispels the illusion. Rather than dull the mystery behind the tricks they perform, these explanations instead serve to build appreciation for the craft; The ideas and techniques used to pull them off are both clever and deftly performed, showcasing the expertise needed to be successful in magic.

The humor is mostly oriented towards families and older audience members, which fails at times, creating some cringeworthy moments. In fact, the show’s weakest periods come during its longer build ups, where Penn’s charisma simply fails him, and the trance dissipates. Many of his jokes fall flat, and the aggressive presenting style gets on one’s nerves after a while.

On the flip side, the best parts of the show are easily the two Teller solo acts. The first is his famous needle swallowing trick, which comes across on stage as a mind-boggling feat of skill. The second is a beautiful display of taking a knife to the shadow of a rose, and the real rose’s petals falling one by one, as if suddenly remembering their debt to gravity. In both cases, the mood completely changes, casting a spell over the captivated audience. No words are spoken, the lighting is dimmed, and in the intimate environment the crowd fades, and the spotlight is all that remains. Penn’s grand finale of fire swallowing emulates this style, with his long monologue and smooth narration breaking the no-talking standards in magic, but successfully complementing his daredevil performance.

The presentation of the show could have been better; there were some tone deaf moments and some underwhelming tricks. But the moments in which Penn & Teller struck gold really shine bright — they’re the type of moments that one does not forget in a hurry. The pockets of the show where the magic really comes to life are genuine moments of awe. Perhaps there is some brushing up to be done by the duo, and some room for optimization and revising, but one thing is for certain: Penn & Teller continue to represent the magical world with finesse and professionalism, consistently revealing their potential to amaze the audience.

—Staff writer Alessandro M. M. Drake can be reached at alessandro.drake@thecrimson.com.