Dan Jaspersen at the Alchemist This Month

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magicianatplay.com

Mentalists and magicians can be exceptionally annoying. In an age of information, we’re not necessarily impressed when people do things that we don’t understand. Ages ago it was impressive, but somewhere along the line, we all started carrying the internet in our pockets and magic stopped being cute.

Mentalism is actually a stage art that’s something other than traditional magic. Blindfolded people attempt to be charming while guessing the nature of objects and things. It’s actually a really clever way of using observation and sleight of hand to make observations about the world that look mystifying onstage. There was a mentalist who had an exhaustive run at the Milwaukee Rep not too long ago.

This month, mentalist Dan Jaspersen makes it to the Alchemist Theatre for a one-night-only performance. Judging from promo video online, Jaspersen has a kind of a witty, unassuming charismatic presence that serves him well onstage. It can be difficult to get a humble persona to work onstage when one is trying to be genuinely impressive, but judging from video available online, Jaspersen seems to make it work. His bio on his website glibly states that he was trained be a con artist. Makes sense. It takes a special kind of person to be able to be impressive, vulnerable and sympathetic all at the same time. If the video below is any indicator, Jaspersen can do all of this and more. Just like a con artist.

Dan Jaspersen appears in a program being called Alchemy at the Alchemist on Jan. 21 at 7:30 pm. For more information, click here.