Some of the Greats

In the wake of Roy’s attack in October 2003, Las Vegas Review-Journal writer Mike Weatherford noted that properties around the city were beginning to reconsider their magic shows, nothing that “some magic enthusiasts say the trends may be less a sign that magic is on the wane than on a needed path of reinvention.” If the history of magic—and entertainment overall—in Las Vegas can be defined by any single attribute, it might be adaptability. Magic performance in the city, once hailed as the “magic capital of the universe,” has always adapted to changing trends, styles, and sensibilities. What has remained constant over a century of magic being performed in Las Vegas, however, is the quality that the city demands of its performers.

Magician and comedian Murray SawChuck states it plainly: “You have to be great to play Las Vegas.”