European Magic - Vegas Experience

From the clap of a hand to the turn of a wrist, slight of hand magician Stephane Vanel’s show The Magic of Paris is growing by the day and bringing in audiences from both a tourist and local observation.

The show, which debuted at Paris Las Vegas on June 1, includes a plethora of entertainment that takes the stage. From the eclectic and unique European-inspired approach of illusion, to dance numbers and a distinctive marionette puppeteer, The Magic of Paris offers a little bit of everything.

“In Paris, there’s not a lot of budget for magicians, which means in France when I say ‘I’m a magician’ people ask me ‘yea, but what is your job.’ It’s not really recognized as a profession, so the only way to do magic is from slight of hand, which is things you can do with cards, coins, etcetera, ‘cause you don’t have any money to buy illusions and things that are more expensive. That’s why I think the European way to do magic is slight of hand and also the music. I try to get a lot of music from Spain, from France and from America also, but a combination that if you’ve been to France or Spain it kind of reminds you of your stay in there.”

Accompanying Vanel on the stage for additional performing acts are entertainers Anthony Rais and Audrey Remy-Liotier. With puppet and strings in hand, master marionette artist Rais dazzles the crowd with his characters who take stage and take on a life of their own. Leading acts through multiple dance numbers, Remy-Liotier dons various attire and embodies exotic personas as she captivates audience members to international rhythmic sounds.

“I love everybody that works with us. They’re very talented they fight every day if they want to make it happen and that’s what I think gives the synergy in the show,” said Vanel. “We have talented people that are very modest and hard working and that’s what I think makes the success of the show, and it’s very intimate and people I think like that.”

Beginning his career as a young boy, Vanel was introduced to the world of magic as a means to break out of his shy and timid shell.

“I started magic when I was a little kid because I was very shy and I had a really hard time talking to people, so my parents thought that magic would be a good thing for me to do,” said Vanel.

Later down the road as an adult, Vanel worked as a model and through one modeling experience gained his big break into the career of a magician.

“I’m very embarrassed to talk about it, but I started with modeling. I use to work for Jean Paul Gaultier Armani. One day I was doing a runway for underwear. I was wearing a Speedo, so I really didn’t have anything on me, and I was practicing my card tricks backstage and they pushed me almost on stage,” said Vanel. “I pretty much had no place to hide my cards but in my Speedo so that looked really awkward on stage. The presenter actually said ‘what do you have there’ and I took out my pack of cards and I apologized and I said I was practicing backstage and he said ‘ok, impress us.’ It was a big television show that night and I did a trick and I got my TV show two weeks after, because they had a big response from the audience, so that was my big shot. I’m a little bit embarrassed because my first trick was in a Speedo, but it was ok.”

His television series “Fun TV Magic” went on to gain Vanel a worldwide reputation and popularity for his incomparable slight of hand and manipulation talents.

Vanel now has almost nine years of history in Las Vegas, including past performing roles for the Excalibur and MGM Grand's Crazy Horse Paris.

“I’m a perfectionist unfortunately, so it take me up to two years to really master something and even when I kind of master it I always force myself to practice everyday so I stay sharp. Slight of hand is very hard ‘cause every show I’m putting myself at risk to drop a card, drop a coin, drop a ball, drop a feather, but it’s very challenging and that’s why I’m doing it ‘cause I really like that,” said Vanel.

Produced by Thierry Cohen, The Magic of Paris runs Tuesday through Sunday, in the Anthony Cools Experience Showroom with two shows daily at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

“We’ve been very lucky ‘cause we are building up right now, but the response from the audience, the reviews and everything has been really really good about the show so the Paris has been really happy,” said Vanel. “We’ve had a lot of great things that have just happened to us the last couple of days that is going to come through next week so. We had a lot of great reviews so there’s a lot of people that now want to work with us.”

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