Michael Boyd has built a strong following in Canberra for his superbly presented variety shows, outstanding examples of which were his Cabaret de Paree with Rhonda Burchmore in 2023 and his lavish, The Christmas Spectacular presented in Canberra just last month.
This show featured a topline cast, headed by Prinnie Stevens, eight excellent dancers, Hula-Hoop extraordinalist, Aleisha Manion, and Boyd himself performing a selection of his most mind-boggling illusions.
This is the third Canberra season of his Circus of Illusion, which although slickly presented, was for this visit a much more stripped back version than those of its 2022 and 2023 iterations.
Again Boyd repeated his illusions, still amazing, but mostly the same ones that had dazzled and intrigued only a month earlier. Similarly, Aleisha Manion repeated the two elegant and encore-worthy routines she had performed in the December extravaganza.
Amiable Canberra juggler and clown, Idris Stanbury returned to host this program, as he had done in 2023, spent the first 10 minutes of the show warming up the audience by instructing them in the correct responses to his signals as to how to show appreciation for the efforts of the specialty artists, and feigning disappointment when the audience failed to get the point of his amusing asides, before surprising them with a hair-raising display of juggling expertise involving a chain-saw and two lethal looking swords.
Britain’s Got Talent finalist, Sascha Williams also returned from 2023 with his nerve-wracking rola bola routine which proved to be every bit as dangerous as it looked.
Two lithe, lovely and accomplished dancers, Tegan and Allie, did their best to create spectacle on the vast Canberra Theatre stage, executing Matt Downing’s inventive choreography with vivacity and charm. However, despite their best efforts, and some spectacular costumes by Cathie Costello and Jeremy Dhen’s colourful lighting, these routines lost much of their impact when performed by just two dancers rather than eight.
Tegan and Allie were also kept busy, along with stage manager, Journey Malone, assisting Boyd mystify and intrigue with his lavish illusions.
Two young audience volunteers kept the audience enthralled during the inevitable but well-managed audience-participation sequences. Five-year-old Sienna, charmed with her unselfconscious fascination as she assisted Boyd with a levitating table, and nine year old Luke, who expressed his ambition to become a magician, picked up some tricks-of- the-trade, assisting Idris Stanbury with some tricky double-handed juggling.
Circus of Illusion, even in this stripped-back version, still provided a welcome couple of hours of meticulously presented quality variety entertainment, particularly for those experiencing Boyd’s spectacular illusions, and world-class specialty acts for the first time.
However those attracted by his lavish large-scale revues, the latest of which was seen in Canberra only a month ago, may have experienced a sense of deja vu at the inclusion of so much material seen so recently in that show.
Circus of Illusion
Canberra Theatre – Canberra Theatre Centre, Civic Square, Canberra
Performance: Friday 10 January 2025
Information: www.boydproductions.com.au
Image: The Cast of Circus of Illusion (supplied)
Review: Bill Stephens OAM