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The legendary all-star magic revue It’s Magic returns for its 62nd year in 2018 with shows across the country.

It’s the longest-running magic show in the country, created in 1956 as Hocus Pocus by Milt Larsen and Oliver Berliner before transforming into a cavalcade of the best and brightest celebrities and up-and-comers in the magic world. It even inspired the creation of the Magic Castle—without It’s Magic, modern American magic would likely not be the same. And now, in its 62nd year, Larsen and partner Terry Hill continues the tradition, bringing the greatest magic to venues in cities all over the country.

First up, It’s Magic will be performing at the Cerritos Performing Arts Center in Cerritos, CA on Sunday, February 11. The show starts at 3pm and will include performances by Dan Birch, Mike Caveney, Alexander Great, Michael Goudeau, and Xavier Mortimer. Tickets can be purchased at the Cerritos Center’s website for $55-$75.

A week later, It’s Magic arrives at the Erie Meyer Civic Center in Gulf Shores, AL on Monday, February 19 and Tuesday, February 20. Performers include Christopher Hart, Tom Ogden, Kadan Bart Rockett & Brooklyn, Chris Blackmore, and Jody Baran & Kathleen. Shows begin each night at 7pm, and tickets can be purchased at Gulf Shores’ website for $35.

The last currently scheduled show is at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, CA on Sunday, February 25. This show begins at 3pm and includes performances by Victor & Diamond, Chris Blackmore, Kadan Bart Rockett & Brooklyn, Eric Buss, and Murray Hatfield & Teresa. Tickets can be purchased directly from the McCallum Theatre for $17-$37.

More dates are planned, so keep checking It’s Magic’s official website for updated scheduling information.

We reported on the Magic Castle’s 55th anniversary last week, where many of the world’s best magicians gathered to honor the exclusive club and celebrate its future. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti even stopped by to give a speech to name January 2 “Magic Castle Day”, in honor of the venue’s dedication to making a place “where the impossible is made possible, where miracles happen and dreams come alive.”

Now, thanks to local weekly lifestyle show LA This Week, we’ve been given a video glimpse into the festivities, complete with interviews with Magic Castle co-founder Milt Larsen and clips form a few of the speeches given at the event. You can watch the full two-minute video in the Tweet embedded below.

To find out more about the Magic Castle and how Larsen transformed it from an abandoned mansion into an illusionist enclave, check out our series of interviews with the co-founder from MagicLive 2017.

Where some folks see a run-down, abandoned house, Milt Larsen sees opportunity. In our interview with Larsen at Magic Live 2017, he describes how he discovered the location that would eventually transform into the official clubhouse of the Academy of Magical Arts outside the window of his Hollywood office. Watch the video above for the for more insight in the creation of the Magic Castle, and look out for additional clips from our interview with Milt Larsen over the coming weeks. 

For the rest of our interview with Milt Larsen, check out the links below:

Part two: On designing the Magic Castle: “Now they call it ‘architectural antiques’, in those days they called it ‘scrap'”

Part three: On growing up in a family of magicians

When you’re raised by a family of magicians, your life tends to be a little bit different than other kids. In the final part of our three-part interview from Magic Live 2017, co-founder of the Magic Castle Milt Larsen talks about growing up in a family that transitioned from accounting, to bootlegging, to magic during the Great Depression, and how his childhood played out as a result.

For the rest of our interview with Milt Larsen, check out the links below:

Part one: How Milt Larsen transformed a ramshackle house into the Magic Castle

Part two: On designing the Magic Castle: “Now they call it ‘architectural antiques’, in those days they called it ‘scrap'”

The Magic Castle is the living embodiment of the phrase ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’, as Milt Larsen explains in the second part of our interview with the co-founder at Magic Live 2017. Back in 1961, Larsen scoured Los Angeles for chandeliers, stained glass windows, and anything else he could find to make his vision of a nightclub for magicians a reality. The stuff he found from the mansions being torn down from a section of the city known as Millionaire’s Row would likely auction off for a pretty penny today, but at the time all of the fixtures were being sent to the junk heap—that’s where Larsen came in. He, along with art director for the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson John Shrum, took these artifacts and made the Magic Castle what it is today. 

For the rest of our interview with Milt Larsen, check out the links below:

Part one: How Milt Larsen transformed a ramshackle house into the Magic Castle

Part three: On growing up in a family of magicians