‘The Magicians Table’ has a few tricks up its sleeve
The magic show runs through Feb. 15 at Blume Studios, 904 Post St.
This review by longtime Charlotte arts critic Lawrence Toppman was published by The Charlotte Ledger on December 1, 2025. You can find out more about The Charlotte Ledger’s commitment to smart local news and information and sign up for our newsletter for free here. Ledger subscribers can add the Toppman on the Arts newsletter on their “My Account” page.
Review: ‘The Magicians Table’ delivers a fast-paced, immersive night of close-up illusions, playful misdirection and rotating performers
by Lawrence Toppman
I had only one drink, and not all of that one: I spilled the last bit as I leapt to my feet in excitement. So my state of merry bewilderment at “The Magicians Table” came not from my Sands of the Nile cocktail but the hands of smooth-tongued con artists who roamed around Blume Studios.
You can approach a magic show in two ways. You can be a skeptic, analyzing illusions until you learn (or think you have learned) the planning behind them. Or you can be a fan who marvels at misdirection, laughs at clever patter and consistently goes “ooooh” with childlike wonder.
I’m both. So I thoroughly enjoyed this snappy, two-hour whirlwind, which occasionally yielded up its secrets when I had time to think — which I seldom did. In the end, I was happiest with the BYOB approach: Believe Your Own Bewitchment.
“Magicians Table” works like speed dating, with a team of 10 illusionists rotating among 12 tables for perhaps six or seven minutes each. Cups, dice, photographs, coins and especially cards appear and vanish, fly through the air, go in and out of clenched fists. One artist provided my favorite kind of ending to a magic routine: He pretended a trick had not quite worked perfectly, then set up a twist ending to show that it had.
The seating has been set up like blackjack tables in a casino, with magicians occupying the dealer’s spots and patrons ringed around in assigned semi-circles. Sometimes guests suggest numbers, pluck cards that will eventually turn up in amazing places or choose names from a magician’s list that will miraculously appear on a pre-printed poster.
Aleksei Chebeliuk, who also does magic, noodles on an accordion to provide a bit of cabaret atmosphere. Waiters drift unobtrusively among tables between sets to see if you’d like a drink; there’s no pressure to accept one, and many people have already oiled their throats before the show starts.
You can buy unusual bespoke cocktails from a bar in the hour before the curtain goes up (metaphorically speaking), and magicians walk among the crowd there doing close-up magic for groups as small as three or four. One pretends to be the guy you see on a New York street hosting three-card monte, and he gives a mini-lesson in how to spot a mountebank. Another works entirely with rubber bands wrapped around his fingers.
The show does have a thin narrative thread. We’re guests of Calliope Roterburg, whose late husband Dieter (billed as the world’s greatest magician) hovers over us as a psychic presence. We’ve come to this memorial to honor him and see his last great trick, one called “The Magicians Table” that caps the performance. Calliope superintends a few larger illusions, that one included, from a small central stage. In one odd moment — it’s a bit creepy, actually — someone even dons Dieter’s death mask to channel his thoughts for an illusion.
Yet this concept doesn’t matter much. Some performers riff off the idea, some don’t, and the tricks don’t depend on any knowledge of Dieter. A few of his placards and props decorate the bar and the main room, and a handsome collage of real magicians’ posters — Blackstone, Thurston, Houdini — hangs in the passage connecting them.
By talking to other patrons, I learned that some routines are performed by more than one magician throughout the evening. By talking to a waiter, I learned that no two shows in the Charlotte run will be exactly the same: You might get a different set of performers, depending on where you sit, and they might vary their prestidigitation. If that’s true, I’ll have to go back with sharper eyes and no liquor — and still, I suspect, be befuddled all over again.
If You’re Going
“The Magicians Table” runs through Feb. 15 at various times in Blume Studios, 904 Post St. General admission is $89.99, though you can get VIP tickets for $150 and Dieters Table tickets for $206.25. (Nobody here uses apostrophes.) Many performances have sold out or are getting close.
—
Lawrence Toppman covered the arts for 40 years at The Charlotte Observer before retiring in 2020. Now, he’s back in the critic’s chair for the Charlotte Ledger — look for his reviews several times each month in the Charlotte Ledger.
Need to sign up for this e-newsletter? We offer a free version, as well as paid memberships for full access to all 6 of our local newsletters:
The Charlotte Ledger is a locally owned media company that delivers smart and essential news. We strive for fairness and accuracy and will correct all known errors. The content reflects the independent editorial judgment of The Charlotte Ledger. Any advertising, paid marketing or sponsored content will be clearly labeled.
◼️ About The Ledger • Our Team • Website
◼️ Newsletters • Podcast • Newcomer Guide • A Better You email series
◼️ Subscribe • Sponsor • Events Board • Merch Store • Manage Your Account
◼️ Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Substack Notes