Performing Magic on the Western Stage: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present (Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History)

Performing Magic On The Western Stage Examines Magic As A Performing Art And Meaningful Social Practice. The Essays In This Interdisciplinary Collection Analyze The Work Of Numerous Western Theatrical Conjurers And Several Non-western Magical Performances In Their Historical Context. Throughout, The Contributors Link Magic To Cultural Arenas Such As Religion, Finance, Gender, And Nationality. All Of The Contributors Are Connected To The Internationally Acclaimed Theory And Art Of Magic Program At Muhlenberg College, Through Which Artists And Scholars Study The History, Theory, And Practice Of The Magical Arts. Life Magic And Staged Magic: A Hidden Intertwining / Lawrence Hass -- The Family Romance Of Modern Magic: Contesting Robert Houdin's Cultural Legacy In Contemporary France / Graham M. Jones -- Magicians And The Magic Of Hollywood Cinema During The 1920s / Matthew Solomon -- The Body Immaterial: Magicians ; Assistants And The Performance Of Labor / Francesca Coppa -- Conjuring Capital: Magic And Finance From Eighteenth-century London To The New Las Vegas / James Peck -- The Sacred And The Sleight Of Hand In American Indian Gaming / Mary Lawlor -- Outdoing Ching Ling Foo / Christopher Stahl -- Intersecting Illusions: Performing Magic, Disability And Gender / Karen Dearborn -- Through A Glass Darkly: Magic And Religion In Western Thought And Practice / Susan L. Schwartz -- Illusions About Illusions / Robert E. Neale. Edited By Francesca Coppa, Lawrence Hass, And James Peck ; Foreword By Eugene Burger. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Performing Magic on the Western Stage examines magic as a performing art and as a meaningful social practice, linking magic to cultural arenas such as religion, finance, gender, and nationality and profiling magicians from Robert-Houdin to Pen& Teller. Examining magic as a performing art and as a meaningful social practice, this book links magic to cultural arenas such as religion, finance, gender, and nationality. It profiles magicians from Robert-Houdin to Pen & Teller