Steve Allen Theater, at the Center For Inquiry West (Los Angeles, CA)
Mentalist Max Maven, called by Orson Welles "the most original mind in magic," presents his full-length show. It's not exactly a one-man show, because it involves dozens of minds...including yours!
Event summary prepared by the Goldstar Editorial Team.
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His talent was very impressive but some of the acts were a bit too slow. I brought 3 teens who felt similarly.
Max Maven is very entertaining - in the sense that he looks ridiculous and you can't take your eyes off him. He is absurd. He looks like a vampire who just graduated from samurai school. I loved him. His show on the other hand is not exactly the night of a lifetime. Max weaves in to his act these historical 'did-you-know' tales that almost put me to sleep. I really went to see his Mentalist powers, but all I got was card tricks. None of the text-book Mentalist tricks you would expect from a card-carrying Mentalist... He has a great sense of humor, but I think I could have written a better act for him - the show is sub-standard - the performer is potentially great, but not on that night... and yet I miss this fashion-disaster and will probably see him again.
This Max MAven is scary! He really does some provocative tricks! And, he enraptures you with his dialogue! Everyone needs a little MAx in their life for the challenges he solves and the mind-bending he does! See him. He is so magnificant. What time well spent!
There's more to this (literally) thought-provoking show than mindreading. With a unique sense of style and an acerbic wit that Variety described as "serpent-like," Maven offers observations on a wide variety of topics ranging from abstract painting to Kabuki theater, from theology to higher mathematics. The result, as noted by the Chicago Tribune, is "wonderfully esoteric."
Magic magazine, the leading professional conjuring journal, published a list of the 100 most influential people in the field of theatrical magic during the 20th century. Included on the list was Max Maven, cited for "entertaining and astonishing audiences with his bizarre brand of mental magic.... Maven's mind-boggling feats are accomplished through psychological subterfuge that he himself has cunningly created.... If mystery does indeed give magic its meaning, then the enigmatic persona of Max Maven makes us ever mindful of the art that is hidden in the mystery...."
Orson Welles wrote that Max Maven has "the most original mind in magic." The New York Times observed that his "category-defying mind-reading show veers into conceptual art." People magazine hailed his work as "a new form of participatory theater." The Los Angeles Times stated that Maven's "improvisational skill is enhanced by a charismatic animal magnetism." Audiences in over two dozen countries agree.
He created and starred in Britain's multi-season TV hit Something Strange with Max Maven and brought his patented brand of mind-bending broadcasting to Canada's highly rated children's show The MAXimum Dimension. Max has also starred in series in Taiwan, Sweden, Norway and Finland as well as hosting eight specials in Japan (performing in Japanese). He has also appeared on NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, PBS, CNN, HBO, TLC and the BBC.
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