Illusionist Lance Burton brings magic to all ages
One never knows what world-champion magician Lance Burton has up his sleeve. Expect the unexpected has been his professional mantra ever since a "Miser's Dream" turned into a real-live nightly vision of success.
Burton was just 5 years old, growing up in Lousiville, Ky., when he was brought up on stage by magician Harry Collins, who proceeded to pull silver dollars from behind the young boy’s ear, his nose, under his chin and out of thin air and then put them into a large bucket soon overflowing with coins.That illusion, called the "Miser's Dream,", inspired Burton with the kind of awe that he imparts to his audiences today.
“My entire goal in doing magic is to let the audience experience that same feeling I had when I was that 5-year-old boy,” says Burton, who, after 13 years of performing at the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino, just renewed his contract for 6 more years. “I thought it was real. I didn’t know it was a trick. It had a really profound effect on me and changed the course of my life. It took that one moment of magic, and everything changed.”
Collins later became the boy's mentor, and Burton became an award-winning magician while still in his teens!
Burton still performs the “Miser’s Dream” IHowever, it took him 35 years to put the classic trick into his show because he wanted to personalize it, thereby creating something different.
Burton's known for classic illusions with a twist, such as turning burning candles into doves (which he performed on the “Tonight Show”); his double levitation, in which he levitates with one of his female assistants and they both magically disappear into thin air; and his Corvette illusion, in which he makes the car appear, disappear and fly.
He's also known for bringing children up on stage with him each performance — and it's easy to see why! Burton has starred in four TV specials, as well as making many other television appearances.
Burton performs in his very own Lance Burton Theatre, with with 1,274 plush seats with drink-holders. Patterned after the theaters in London's West End, it is theater-style seating rather than table seating.
You can purchase tickets online or by calling (877) 386-8224 or (702) 730-7160.
- by Bobbie Katz, Las Vegas Reporter for HelloMetro
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