It Takes Magic To Settle Crowd Down

6/29/2005

Story And Photos By RON GUSTAFSON MIDDLEBURY, Conn. – More than a dozen times a week, Jim Sisti becomes the center of attention in a children’s wonderland consisting of amusement rides, arcade games and cotton candy. He steps onto the Lakeside Theatre stage at Quassy Amusement Park here with the daunting task of capturing the undivided attention of an audience consisting mainly of pre-teen children and their parents. For the next 20 minutes he realizes that his role is to keep restless youngsters focused on his show rather than have them teasing and tugging on mom’s shirt sleeves in an effort to go on the nearby Little Dipper roller coaster. A master of his trade, the 48-year-old Connecticut native walks out from backstage with a hearty “good afternoon,” which immediately settles the anxious audience down. He is soon joined by his wife, Sandy, as she carries out the first props to start their comedy-magic show. Little hands quickly rise into the air as Sisti asks for volunteer helpers and then the real “magic” to his shows kicks into high gear. Effects Of Magic “It’s all about presentation,” the magician says of his art. “Some magic can be extremely difficult to do technically, but if it is done well the audience sees only the effect – not how the effect happens.” Sisti has mastered numerous close-up sleight of hand techniques over the years, and with a dash of comedy the “Jim Sisti & Sandy” shows at Quassy are seamless from start to finish. “For me, comedy is one of my natural talents. That is why I spent a lot of time in the hallway in grammar school,” he quipped. “It (comedy) has helped me and gotten me equal doses of trouble.” On stage, though, Sisti’s comedy helps keep the flow of his performances going like clockwork and his non-offensive wit can be razor sharp. “When I have a child on stage and the kid says something, I can react very quickly. Comedy comes natural to me and suits me better in my shows,” he added. But keeping impatient youngsters glued to their seats and awestruck at the same time in the heart of an amusement park – you might say that requires a little bit of magic. That’s where the presentation part is so critical, according to Sisti. “If we have a new piece of equipment for a show, first we have to practice with it to get it perfect technically as well as mechanically,” Sisti notes. “That’s only halfway to the goal line. Then we have to come up with a presentation to make it interesting or funny. Once we have the mechanics, we can do the presentation and rehearse it to make it ‘whole’ theatrically.” One routine for a show might require several weeks, if not a couple months of training and rehearsals before it is ready for the public. Interest As A Child Growing up in Waterbury, Conn., and only minutes from Quassy, Sisti recalls how he first got interested in magic, which has been his full-time profession now for 16 years. “When I was a kid, my family was an avid watcher of the Ed Sullivan television show. Certainly I saw magicians on his show, but my real interest was in a man named Dan Tzukalas,” Sisti said. Tzukalas was not only an accomplished magician, but also a pitchman at Macy’s department store in New York City. “Back in those days (1960s), you could rent a kiosk at Macy’s and Dan Tzukalas used to sell magic stock and gadgets there,” Sisti added. In the fall, Tzukalas would hit the fair circuit in New England. It was at the former Danbury, Conn., fair that Sisti – then about 10 years old - first saw Tzukalas and purchased a magic trick from him. “He was the first guy I saw do close-up magic, and I had my nose on his demonstration counter the rest of the day,” Sisti recalled. “Every year we went back to the fair and I bought more tricks.” Sisti attended Boston University following high school and spend 12 years in commercial radio with the former Waterbury, Conn., station WQQW. “I worked mornings at the radio and started doing some magic shows in the evenings at local restaurants,” he said. His first appearances at Quassy were during the summers of 1986 and ’87. In 1988 Sisti performed at another amusement park - Lake Compounce in Bristol, Conn. - before returning to Quassy in 2003. Crossed Paths Again As a childhood admirer of Dan Tzukalas, Sisti was delighted to cross paths with the noted magician again – this time at Quassy Amusement Park. Tzukalas was performing his close-up magic at the park when Sisti snapped some photos of him, probably in 1984 or ‘85. “I also thanked him since I bought my first trick from him,” Sisti said of the conversation. Tzukalas told Sisti that day: “I sold David Copperfield his first trick, too.” “I reluctantly listened to that,” Sisti noted, but later discovered while watching television that Tzukalas was telling the truth about the world-renown Copperfield. “Copperfield appeared on the Arsenio Hall Show and told of buying his first trick from a pitchman at Macy’s,” Sisti added. That pitchman was Dan Tzukalas, who lived a good part of his life in Bridgeport, Conn., according to Sisti, who became dumfounded while watching the Hall show. General Practitioner Today, Jim Sisti considers himself a “general practitioner of magic.” “Like anything, there are multiple income streams,” he said. “I do children, adult, standup and strolling magic shows. In 1994 I performed in an off-Broadway show for 16 weeks and then went on the road with the company and played colleges in four states.” Perhaps his most memorable performance – though before a very small audience – was for Academy Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss. “Just a few years ago I was working at a Connecticut restaurant when the owner asked if I would mind stepping into a room where a private party was being held,” Sisti recalled. Much to his surprise, Sisti did his close-up act for Dreyfuss, who was there with around 10 other people during a parents’ weekend party for his college-age daughter. “You are a fabulous magician,” the actor told Sisti of his close-up routine. A Versatile Couple While the husband-and-wife team of “Jim Sisti & Sandy” does most of the summer Quassy shows together, Sandy also performs on her own. Many of her performances are before day care and pre-school youngsters with shows that consist of storytelling and costuming. Sandy makes all of the costumes used in her performances, allowing the children to dress up and assume roles. She also creates custom cloth props for magicians, jugglers, clowns and other entertainers and sells them worldwide on the Web at www.seamslikemagic.net Occasionally Sandy performs her 20-minute magic show at Quassy in her husband’s absence. Sisti is also well known throughout the profession, as he is a lecturer and author, with two books published on close-up magic. He writes the “Magic On The Menu” column for Magic Magazine and has been the host on a number of video projects that were taped for distribution worldwide. The couple frequently act as consultants in their industry. As for Jim Sisti and his aspirations: “At some point I would love to do a one-man show – kind of an autobiography including music and magic – or a themed school show of some kind.” Who’s Who Of Magic Walking into their Beacon Falls, Conn., home is like entering the foyer of a “Who’s Who Of Magic Hall Of Fame.” Posters, lobby cards and other memorabilia are attractively displayed in the stairwell and hallways. Downstairs is an extensive library with more than 2,000 volumes dedicated to the profession, plus hundreds of videos and a collection of apparatus used in live performances. One of their latest acquisitions is “Stanley” the mechanical snake, who is kept inside a woven basket at the house until the scheduled summer shows at Quassy. As Sisti pointed to the vast collection of books and other items he has acquired over the years, he said: “People always ask me if I believe in magic. In reality, magic is all about surprise and what we do is create a feeling like waking up on Christmas morning – a feeling of excitement. This is what I ultimately want to give to people – a genuine feeling of wonder.” And according to Jim Sisti, there is a difference between a magic trick and the experience of magic. “I try to fall into the second category,” he said. “I want people to walk away having no clue how I did this.” -- 30 -- (Jim Sisti & Sandy perform at Quassy’s Lakeside Theatre stage most weekends during the park’s 2005 season and on selected weekdays in July and August. Admission to the park and shows are free with parking $5 per car.) For more information, visit these Web sites: www.jimsistimagic.com www.smilesbysandy.com www.talkaboutmagic.com www.magicmagazine.com www.quassy.com With photos of Jim Sisti and Sandy