Coming up in October I will be performing at the Happy Valley 2022 Magic Festival, as I have done this festival many many times (20 times to be exact), So for my 21st Im taking a new act. new costume, new music, new/revamped routines.
It’s a long post sorry about that but I have tried to be details and maybe it will help someone with their process.
The objective is to create a new act 15 to 20 minutes long containing some stuff I’ve done before and new things with a particular theme that is right for the 2022 happy Valley Theme Park Magic Festival.
WHAT I ALREADY KNOW
The good thing is that, over the years I have already performed 20 festivals for this particular theme park chain so I have a very good understanding of what kind of show works and what doesn’t work. I also understand exactly what the theme park bosses are like and what they don’t like. (This is BIG deal here in China, In the west its a reverse mind set)
So firstly let’s have a quick look at what works and what does not work at this particular festival. The first three days are normally rammed with tons of people so therefore a long crowd build is not needed you can literally just go into the show, however the last three or four days of the festival it really goes very quiet so then you do need a much longer slow laboring crowd build before you actually do anything.
I also know that in this theme parks the stages are all street style stages. Most of them are NOT in the round (NOT 360) so there is almost always something behind me. Which is a good thing.
I know that this particular festival always very hot and humid, due to park location and time of year, so certain handling of certain props can be difficult.
I know that the stages are a lot of the stages anyway very very noisy because they’re right in the middle of a number of theme park rides which have loud music playing.
I know from my experience for many years working theme parks is that they can be very large and you can have sometimes have to move from one stage to another which can be quite far. So an easy movable set up is needed.
I know that Chinese Theme park bosses much prefer an entertaining act rather than a technical one.
NOW I HAVE LOOKED AT LIMITS AND REQUIREMENTS.
So with all of that said I’m looking to create a 15 to 20 minute act that has a flexible build at the start which can either be very short or very long depending on crowd size
The whole show needs to be able to pack into a small easy to transport box or case.
The show needs to contain strong magic but simple to understand for a totally family orientated audience.
It needs to be entertaining, with a fair degree of audience participation
The show also needs to be able to compete against outside influences such as sound and noise from the theme park rides and barkers outside show stores etc.
THE ACT CREATION
Now firstly I won’t be doing a completely new act, a good strong act takes time to settle, it hones over many performances.
However, I do have time to break in a couple of brand new routines at the gig I am currently on now. I have 3 weeks of 4 shows aday to get ready.
OK so at this moment I am in a strong position to know exactly what I need to create for whom I need to create it for, how it needs to be presented and the environment that it will be presented in.
WHAT THE ACT NEEDS
1: The crowd build, needs to be long or short. (Music backed to help with the build)
2: First proper routine (music backed)
3: First audience participation in crowd routine (talks over with also under music)
4: Center routine audience participation with volunteers on stage.
5: Finally routine.
I won’t go into each routine in detail because that’s not the basis of this article. However I will give a list of the routines in this act.
Geno 2022 Happy Valley Magic Festival Card Act
1: Bank Note change with Geno money give away (crowd build) – minimum 3 mins
2: Geno’s Face on Ace Of Diamonds routine (set the tone of the act) – 2 mins
3: Giant Three Card Monte with Geno Merchandise. (Audience part in crowd) – 3 mins
4: Cards across (audience part with volunteers in stage) – 6 mins
5: Card in Bottle (full crowd participation ) – 4 mins
Total 18 mins approx
Props and Tech
Small onstage case for all props with tripod stand
Small folding stand for Three Card Monte routine
Small pelican case holding microphone, audio device and Audio Ape remote system.
Small bag for extra give aways, cables etc.
Small Trolly for above.
So there you have it, I have had a set of new costumes made for this festival to rebrand myself a little as the bosses have seen me many time before.
In this act there are 2 NEW routines which I am breaking in right now, the rest is stuff I have done for years but NOT at this festival before.
I could have gone deeper into the music creation sections and the WHYS of the routines but i’ll leave that stuff for another time.
I do hope this process helps someone.
Geno OUT …