“Ohhh, that’s nice,” moans Max Schneider on stage. He has closed his eyes, his hands feel in the air. “That’s warm, that’s light, that’s…that’s the sun.” He turns to Inge, a woman from the audience, who has just sent him heart-to-heart information about the card she drew from the glass jar. “Is that correct, Inge?” asks the mentalist. she nods.
After a two-year break, the magic gala is taking place again in the Pullach community center, which Harold Voit’s magic academy, based in the town, actually puts on the stage every year. It was canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of the corona pandemic. On Friday evening, however, the spectators were once again amazed by the magical abilities of the magicians on stage. All of them were once students of the Magic Academy, but most of them a very long time ago. In the meantime, they have won prizes and, among other things, took top places at the German Magic Championships in May.
Artists from Hungary perform between the magic shows.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
The contact to the artist group “Barros Imre Artistaképzö” from Budapest, whose name moderator Siebensinn cannot bring himself to say, came about through the magic academy. Because one of the artists once attended the school in Pullach. Now his troupe offers impressive acts between the magicians’ performances. The two moderators Janis and Siebensinn, both teachers at the Magic Academy, also provide nice intermediate scenes. As the next performers get ready on stage, they perform tricks and tell magical stories.
Moderator Siebensinn also shows his own tricks.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
The mentalist Max Schneider, in real life a lecturer in theater studies at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University, tells the story of Antoine de St. Exupéry, whose wisdom “One only sees clearly with the heart” is known to everyone. He proves how true this assertion is with his magical thought experiment: Inge and her husband Theo, invited to the stage by him, are soon able to do magic themselves and send messages via heart energy. In this way, Inge can also read a card that Theo has drawn far away from her. He holds it to his heart and beams the information to the other end of the stage. Of course, the mentalist can also recognize all of Inge’s heart truths. When he puts the book “The Little Prince” in her hand, she opens it randomly and reads the first word on the left-hand page, the message gets through to him. “It’s… it sounds, it feels like a machine.” The word is actually machine.
With completely different skills, Frederic Schwedler captivates the audience. His division is manipulation, in which he is German runner-up, and moderator Janis explains that the word is derived from manus, hand. With his hands, Schwedler accomplishes unspeakable things. Balls appear and disappear between his fingers, turning into cloth and changing color.
Lukas Brandl is the winner of the German championship.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
Lukas Brandl, Grand Prix winner at the German Championship, also tries to tame balls that appear, disappear again, move in inexplicable ways. In his performance he combines magic, juggling and dance and tells the story of a man who has lost himself in a bizarre world from which there seems to be no way out.
Magic Maxl is only 15 years old and was able to call himself Magician of the Year in 2021.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
The youngest magician is called Magic Maxl. The 15-year-old from Dachau, who was accepted into the Magic Circle Germany at the age of nine, probably delights the many school children in the audience in particular. His scene takes place at school, in which he enchants a German essay provided with countless red error corrections into a flawless one. Magic Maxl has performed several times with the Ehrlich Brothers and was named “Magician of the Year” in 2021.
One storyteller who can bring tears to tears with his magical performances is Collin. With both demonstrations that can be seen in Pullach that evening, he has won first place in magic championships. In the first story he is the warden in a museum where the exhibits allow themselves all sorts of nonsense. The image of Nefertiti just slips out of its frame, a vase disappears and reappears at the other end of the stage, and a bust of Nefertiti suddenly appears under a glass. However, the audience experiences the greatest “shock” when the real Nefertiti unexpectedly stands next to Collin. His second piece is a fairy tale that culminates in the fact that suddenly two children are sitting in a gingerbread house – that of the magician Collin and his partner, as moderator Siebensinn reveals.