Pearson’s blend of sleight of hand magic and comedy kept the audience delighted and wanting more. He started the evening going to various tables and doing close magic where the people at the tables took part.
The most popular sleight of hand at the tables was the rabbit trick according to several people who witnessed it. Pearson would regal the listeners with a story about a rabbit and have one person hold a small paper bunny in their hand. By the end of the story the person would open their hand and be astonished to find anywhere from two to eight rabbits now on their grasp.
Lorraine Gislason was one who wound up holding two rabbits and couldn’t believe it had happened calling it “mind-boggling.”
Her friend Mary Olson agreed.
“I think he’s really talented,” Olson said. “I like the close setting like this – in a big arena you don’t see anything.”
Aaron Burton was out with his girlfriend to enjoy the show and agreed the rabbits were cool. Burton was also called up on stage to take part in another trick that should have left him dripping wet, but the water disappeared before he was doused.
Charlie Shopland, Kelsey McNally, Lionel Bonneville and Linda Dubé were all called upon to choose between envelopes that either had a lottery ticket or a “piece of plastic.” Only Shopland switched envelopes for the fifth one Pearson was holding and McNally thought about switching but didn’t.
When they opened them all four had picked the lottery tickets. And the “plastic” turned out to be a $100 bill leaving the audience wondering how Pearson controlled where the money went.
McNally then had to stay on stage and hold a lemon over her head. At first it was for Pearson to throw a knife at but that quickly melted into a combination of two other tricks when Burton and Andrew Pitura were called up on stage.
Burton did the water trick and Pitura donated $20 to the lemon trick and had his “underwear” removed by handkerchiefs.
“I’ve had my underwear torn out of my pants twice in the last month,” Pitura laughed after the show. He had attended a different magicians show in January and was randomly chosen to do the exact same trick as at Pearson’s show.
Finally, after Burton didn’t get soaked and Pitura lost his underwear McNally was finally allowed to relax when Pitura opened the lemon she had been holding over her head for several minutes to reveal the $20 he had donated earlier.
“He’s very good. As someone who loved and follows magicians, he’s a master,” Pitura said after the show, sitting with his wife Phyllis. “It was masterful, it was wonderful and he’s great at it.”
Doug and Heather Kariel also attended the performance and enjoyed themselves Heather said.
“I like the simple magic like that,” she stated. “Not the special effects stuff.”
