By Alix Cohen . . .
The McKittrick Hotel Club Car is very dark. A very long, candlelit table is set attractively for dinner. Visual resembles Hogwarts.
Scottish illusionist Scott Silven found magic through his grandfather at age five, studied theater in London, and has professionally done nothing else in life. (It’s always surprising to be reminded how much magic is out there with so little in New York.) We’re welcomed with a champagne toast. Fate, Silven says, has brought us together. Each person around the table identifies him/her self.
Sense of community fostered by attending this kind of show is half the reason to attend. Like Speakeasy Magick (a McKittrick event now at another address) and Monday Night Magic (now at Monte’s Trattoria), in At The Illusionist’s Table (at the McKittrick through August 5) one shares tables with affable strangers, willing, as you are, to be fooled. Conversation between segments can be fun.
Silven works much of this evening around stories connected to time with his grandfather. The way a practitioner frames his program is paramount to engendering sympathy and holding attention. Taken from an old wooden box, period postcards are given to three people who choose a destination card, removing it from the stack. The mentalist identifies all three.
The wooden box tracks back to one his grandfather had on the mantelpiece. Its contents lead us to a revelatory note in a bottle, the unexpected hour on a retrieved pocket watch, and joining guests together with a red thread, by which he used to find his way home from the forest. Subjects of hidden guest drawings are identified. Silvern inclusively walks up and down the table choosing participants.
The table plays a game of “Telephone,” not repeating the initial word, but free associating another, none aloud. The last in line, I was told to choose something under seven letters. My first selection was nine. The new word then arrived written on top of dessert. Some of what occurs in the course of the evening is written on a note apparently contained in a box and bottle at the middle of the table throughout dinner. Not only was my new word specified, but the original nine-letter word as well.
For magic aficionados, little Silven does is astonishing. He is, however, entertaining. The event might be congenially shared.
In the course of dinner, both white and red wine is served with whiskey tastings additional. The Menu: Biadh Mara: Prawns, lobster, and scallops atop barley, a mélange of tender beans, carrots, snow peas and cherry tomatoes. Cornish Hen: Mustard-crusted roasted Cornish hen breast, cava mushrooms, haricot vert, marble potatoes, Diable sauce. Parker rolls. Chocolate Cake: Dark chocolate sheet, chocolate crumble powder. The meal is quite good and plentiful. Service is swift, efficient, and quiet. Performance occurs between courses.
McKittrick Hotel events should be on your radar. Shows hosted by The Club Car are invariably entertaining and different. This one is on the expensive side for content.
Caveats: Arrival before 7:30 means being crowded into a hot, tiny bar (with bottled drinks, not included) or a narrow corridor with literally only two seats. Arrival after 7:30 means no admittance. The very long table and dark lighting means those of us at one end can see barely halfway down to the other—whatever interaction happens there is completely lost.
At The Illusionist’s Table. Through August 5 at The McKittrick Hotel (530 West 27th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues). www.mckittrickhotel.com
Cover Photo: Loren Wohl
