which meant I was dealing with the pinnacle of adolescence and everything that came with it. I was officially a teenager and I wanted to spend my summer at the recreation club pool. That's where all the "cool kids" would be. Being there meant that your parents could afford the membership fees.
That was exactly why I didn't spend my summer there and instead spent it sitting in the Mason-Dixon Music Hall at Kings Dominion. That's where my mom was working. My parents had splurged on Season Passes. This wasn't a luxury so much as it was a necessity. My mother was horrified at the idea of letting us stay home all day alone, Dad was working out of town, and my grandparents couldn't come watch us every day, which meant going to work with Mom. But, the same overprotectiveness (spell check says that isn't a word. I say it is.) that kept her from leaving us at home also kept her from letting us roam the park without supervision. So, if she was ushering five performances, we were watching five performances. I eventually lost count of how many times I watched "It's Magic", though I know I watched it enough to learn all of the choreography. (Though I still don't know how most of the tricks were done. We had to leave if they were working on them and Mom still holds to the confidentiality agreement she signed.) After spending 7th grade as part of a typical middle school show choir that only had a handful of people who actually took it seriously, I found in the stage show everything I dreamed of. After a while, it really got into my blood. I found myself completely drawn to the sequins, the lights, the music - to answer Crosby, Stills, and Nash, yes, I did envy all the dancers who had all the nerve. I began to learn who everyone was, I knew when things didn't go the way they were supposed to, I began to feel connected to the show. (There's a reason they market fan magazines to that age group. That's when we are one obsessive bunch.) I wore through the bottom of my character shoes dancing the choreography on my front porch on the summer days when we got to stay at home. I loved pretending that I was one of those beautiful dancers earning the crowd's applause (even if they did just come in for the AC.) At the end of the summer, my mother ordered me my very own "It's Magic" shirt and even took us along as her guests to the entertainment awards where I got to see them win "Best Show". I even made my very first video montage by hooking up the camcorder to the VCR and putting together clips of all the shows I'd taped (I had to do something to make the day more interesting sometimes) and putting it to music. As summer turned to fall, it meant it was time for the final curtain call. I'm pretty sure we were there that day to watch the last performance. The park closed for the season and Paramount replaced the stage with an ice rink, meaning that most of these performers I'd grown so attached to would not be back the next year. I kept the show in my heart, cutting out pictures from the park map and brochures to put in my clear-covered binder when I went back to school, but eventually I moved on to my next adolescent obsession.
A few months ago, I wanted to get some screen grabs from an old home movie, so I borrowed it from my parents. In the middle of the tape was a performance of "It's Magic". I was on a mission and had no intention of watching it, but after the first few seconds I couldn't tear myself away. The opening notes of the music immediately transported me back to that summer. I was still running through the choreography in my head, amazed at how much I had retained. When I saw all those familiar faces looking back at me again for the first time in over a decade, it was almost an emotional experience. It reminded me how important that show was to me when I was just an awkward middle schooler.
That is why I was inspired to do a tribute this summer in honor of the show's 15th anniversary. Those singers and dancers were there doing a job, probably just trying to make their way to a more prestigious gig, but to me they were the equivalent of Broadway stars. I don't know if any of them will ever find this little page, but this is just my way of saying thanks for the summer of entertainment and what has turned out to be years of fun memories.
You can actually view the show in its entirety here or here (clearer, but much larger file)!
(Edited together from different performances.)
This is Audrey. I don't know what it was about her, but I wanted to be Audrey. She was my absolute favorite. Every time she finished a number, she did this open-mouthed smile. On the last night of our Fall Musical in the 8th grade, I did "the Audrey" after the last number in tribute.
See?
Ah...Keith. Since it was so long ago I think I can say this without getting in too much trouble. My sister was head over heels for Keith. One day we were hanging out between shows (seriously, we had to stay in the theatre all day) and there was a knock on the front door. It turned out it was Keith who had run out between shows and my sister ended up being the one who got to let him back in. I still think that ranks as one of the happiest moments of her life.
That's Kipper on the left and Arthur on the right. First, Kipper. Bear with me on this nostalgic trip. In the spring of 1989, my dad was in "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" with Kipper. Kipper played Charlie Brown. In it, he finds a pencil belonging to the infamous "red-headed girl" and he has the line "It has her teeth marks all over it!" Well, that year, we had a dentist visit our school and pass out pencils with teeth all over it, and I showed it to Kipper because I thought it was really funny. He loved it so much that he kept it and used it as his prop pencil for the rest of the show. Every time I think of that, I get warm fuzzies. So, we had a history. That's probably why Dad always got an unusual number of close-ups of Kipper when he taped the show.
Seriously, Dad, it was a little weird.
Arthur was one of my favorite people to watch perform. I remember Mom introducing us to him at the awards ceremony. He was so genuinely nice and not at all condescending, which would have been easy when meeting a 10 and 13 year old. I always appreciated that.
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Every once in a while, I still rock the "It's Magic" shirt. Besides, I think it's vintage now, which makes it cool.
Scroll through all the screen grabs below:
(You can always right-click the window and choose "View Image" to see that particular image larger or "Save Image As" to save that image. If choosing from the pull-down menu, be patient. Some images take a while to load.)
Cool stuff!!! In searching around on the internet, I found that George Sarofeen did all the costumes for the show. His site is no longer active, but in digging around on various archive sites and image search engines, I managed to find one good picture, and one tiny thumbnail that was so cool I had to include it here anyway. Fun Fact #1: I learned that the levitation number (which we affectionately referred to as "the bird number") was officially known as "Space". Oh...that explains some things.
I assume this was taken at Kings Island, where (I believe) the show was first performed. Fun fact #2: Carmen Electra was a dancer in the show there.
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I could have squealed with delight at finding this. This is the artist's rendering of the assistant's costume:
Towards the end of the year in 7th grade, our teacher made us write an ode to something related to summer. Not surprisingly, I chose "It's Magic"
Ode to "It's Magic"
By: Lori King
When it's too hot to go on a Kings Dominion ride,
I'll go to Mason-Dixon where it's cool inside.
The '92 season brings the magic show.
It's called "It's Magic" and you really should go.
By the end of the show, you'll be wishin'
you knew the tricks of Jimi the magician.
He handles well his magic show,
it's obvious he's a real pro.
When things go wrong, he really is persistent,
but he always has help from Heather, his assistant.
Once in a while the show may have a flaw,
but it sure never ceases to keep you in awe.
When summer's here get off your seat
and go to Mason-Dixon where the show can't be beat.
Why did I mention stuff going wrong so much? I guess it was pretty early in the season when I wrote this...
Are you an alumnus of "It's Magic"? Do you have any info about one or about the
show? If this page meant something to you, I'd really love to hear about it.
Drop me a line.
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