Conjuring a Conversation with Milwaukee’s David Seebach

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A&E Feature

Thousands of musicians, comedians and other artists have performed during Summerfest’s 53-year run, but none more often than David Seebach, who this year celebrated 41 years at Summerfest with five performances of his annual “Wonders of Magic” show at the festival’s Northwestern Mutual Community Park.

Seebach, who grew up in Milwaukee’s Sherman Park neighborhood, has been making scarves magically appear, shuffling slight-of-hand card decks, sawing assistants in half and turning pretty showgirls into full-sized tigers for more than five decades. In addition to Summerfest, he has performed at corporate meetings, in conjunction with symphony orchestras, and in theaters and venues across the United States, as well as several European ports of call.

“I am an entertainer and performer who demonstrates the impossible in an engaging manner,” Seebach says of his act. “It was the French conjurer Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin (from whom Wisconsin magician Harry Houdini adapted his name) who said that the magician is an actor who plays the role of a wizard.”

Putting on a Show

Seebach’s “wizarding ways” began with the remnants of a child’s magic kit provided by his older brother Dick at age 6 and a supportive father who lined up his first gig at age 12. His father, Edward E. Seebach, was the Milwaukee Public Library System’s head of circulation and likely helped his youngest son land his first show at the former Center Street Library in the mid-‘60s. He was paid $7.50 for the performance. Little did the 12-year-old Seebach know then that he was conjuring up what would become a lifelong performance career.

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“I always liked putting on a show,” says Seebach, who in his youth dabbled in theater, college radio and amateur filmmaking. “Very often magic tricks allowed my imagination to get creative and tell some stories as part of the performance. That’s why people come, and that’s what entertains them.”

Seebach continued mastering his craft throughout high school, eventually graduating into a pre-business curriculum at UW-Milwaukee. As a business student, Seebach was less than stellar. That all changed when friends at UWM’s School of Fine Arts coaxed him into moving to their discipline. His academic performance soared and he graduated with honors.

During his college years Seebach saw a magic show at the University of Illinois that involved students as assistants. Intrigued, he pitched UWM on the same concept, suggesting that the proceeds be used to fund scholarships to the UWM theater department. It was so successful that he performed the show at the school for 10 years running.

“I really wanted to get into the big theater there, and this gave me access to the stage and all the equipment, which helped me hone the quality of my craft,” Seebach says. “I was able to perform one big illusion after another, and that helped me develop my on-stage character.”

The UWM experience was central to developing his act, but it was the eight summers he spent entertaining vacationers at Deer Park Lodge (now the Chippewa Retreat Resort) in Manitowish Waters that provided his graduate-level education. After a two-week tryout in 1970, he earned a summer-long gig at the resort’s show lounge with 10 shows per week, plus closeup magic during cocktail hours. He further developed his performance skills and magical acumen and, after performing his last show in 1979, was ready for the big time.

“I didn’t really have a watershed moment when I knew that magic was going to be my career,” Seebach says. “But people enjoyed what I did, told me I was good at it, and paid me for it, so I just kept on doing it.”

Maestro and Magician

Seebach has since become the envy of his magical peers, both locally as well as throughout the industry. The sophistication and grandeur of his performances have increased, and his inventory of equipment has grown to a warehouse full of illusions he estimates would cost a half-million dollars to replace. The leagues of current and former assistants now number in the tens of dozens, almost too many to remember, he says.

“I think I carved a pretty unique niche in southeastern Wisconsin,” he says. “There isn’t anyone else with as deep a repertoire as mine with the possible exception of New Berlin native Tristan Crist, who owns and performs in his own theater in Lake Geneva, and Rick Wilcox, who grew up in Brookfield and does a similar act in his own theater in Wisconsin Dells.”

Seebach also cites Glen Gerard, who does magic at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center and Julie Sobanski, who bills herself as “The Princess of Magic.” “After that, the drop-off among local conjurers is pretty steep,” he adds.

Over the years, Seebach has adapted his act to include a series called “The Maestro and the Magician,” which he premiered with North Dakota’s Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra, during which he performs with the orchestra as well as swapping rolls with the conductor for a short period of time. He also has used wild animals in his act courtesy Jo-Don Farms, a private zoo in Franksville that’s now closed. He worked with mountain lions, jaguars, leopards, lion cubs and his personal favorite, tigers. He hasn’t done it in several years since the use of animals has fallen out of favor.

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Now standing on the other side of 70, Seebach has not stopped performing, but he has gotten more selective in the engagements he accepts. In fact, one of his favorite performances will run once again at the end of this month, just in time for Halloween.

“David Seebach’s Illusions in the Night”, a longtime seasonal favorite of Milwaukee magic fans, will run for four performances Oct. 15-17 at Elm Grove’s Sunset Playhouse, and then an additional three performances Oct. 28-30 at Lake Geneva’s Tristan Crist Magic Theater. The show provides the magician with ample opportunities to spin tales of mystery and imagination while dazzling audiences with eye-popping illusions.

“Almost everyone can execute the magic part of the show if they try because that’s a skill and you can teach a skill,” Seebach says. “But the entertainment part is truly an art.”