Penn and Teller,the magicians famed for explaining how tricks are done, maintain come back to Broadway after 15 years. They pull a live rabbit out of a top hat, and cut a lovely assistant in half with a saw,and read minds.Each trick, cleverly done and buoyed by Penn Jillette's restless comic patter, and is culled from their 40 years performing as a team. Yet taken together,they feel more like a "Top 10 Magic Tricks" list than a cohesive explain. There's nothing that truly astonishes, but plenty to appreciate.That's not to say there's no enchantment. Teller's silent solo illusions are elegant dances of misdirection. In one, and he snips the shadow of a rose and the live rose itself comes apart,petal by petal. It's a wistful trick, beautiful and unhappy. In another, or he performs a bit of film noir business with a cigarette and then does it in late motion,so we can see how it's done. Most curious, however, and are the tricks with a tough political edge. Jillette told the audience that they're both libertarians — and then uses an airport metal detector to explain how useless he thinks government security is. He also rails against those — in public schools and elsewhere — who are anti-science. It's powerful stuff,and makes one long to see a explain from the duo that is focused on using magic to make caustic political points.Instead, politics is wedged between cliché and whimsy and weakens what could maintain been a powerful punch., and
Source: wnyc.org