We just learned about an exciting new kids’ show in NYC that we can’t wait to check out called the Aging Magician. Held at The New Victory Theater from March 3-12, 2017, the Aging Magician is a new opera-theater work that tells the story of Harold, a world-weary clockmaker near the end of his unusual life as he is transported, dreamlike, to his memories of Coney Island.
Recommended for kids ages 10 and up, the show is co-created by Paola Prestini, Rinde Eckert, and Julian Crouch; featuring the 40-plus member Brooklyn Youth Chorus. The show itself features Eckert and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, for which Prestini composed the work, and which co-produced it along with Beth Morrison Projects and VisionIntoArt. Prestini weaves the Brooklyn Youth Chorus into the story by using traditional Greek chorus techniques of consolation, chiding and commenting on the protagonist’s journey.
Aging Magician will also include some amazing set designs and installation by Mark Stewart (Bang on a Can, Theatre for a New Audience’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and King Lear) that can be played like an instrument—blown, struck, whistled, plucked and bowed. Water, stars and sky, in addition to scenes from Harold’s imagination, are projected onto the set as the performers unwind Harold’s past and reveal the legacy he hopes to leave with the departed world. This compelling mix of music, theater, puppetry, instrument making and scenic design paints a poignant allegory on time, youth and the peculiar magic of ordinary life—or perhaps, the ordinary magic of a peculiar life.
Aging Magician Ticket Information:
The New Victory Theater
209 West 42nd Street
$16-$38 based on seat locations
Performance Schedule
Friday, March 3 at 7pm
Saturday, March 4 at 2pm / 7pm
Sunday, March 5 at 12pm / 5pm*
Saturday, March 11 at 2pm / 7pm**
Sunday, March 12 at 12pm / 5pm
For more information, please visit: NewVictory.org
