{"id":460615,"date":"2026-09-11T14:52:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T14:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/460615\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T14:52:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T14:52:22","slug":"best-of-the-bay-2026-editors-pick-illusionist-kevin-blake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/460615\/","title":{"rendered":"Best of the Bay 2026 Editors’ Pick: Illusionist Kevin Blake"},"content":{"rendered":"

Polls are open for our 2026 Best of the Bay!\u00a0Vote here now<\/a>, and enjoy our Editors\u2019 Picks<\/a> of our favorite Bay Area things, which we\u2019ll be posting throughout the month and beyond.<\/p>\n

For over five years and more than 500 shows, Kevin Blake<\/a> has been performing iterations of his The Illusionist<\/a> show at The Palace Theater<\/a>. A consummate showman who has been called a \u201cmodern-day Merlin,\u201d Blake effortlessly commands the stage with mentalism, prestidigitation, and humor. His entrance\u2014he seems to magically appear on stage\u2014sets the tone for the performance, and he quickly follows with a crafty paper airplane illusion.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u2018The Illusionist With Kevin Blake\u2019 at The Palace Theater, September 6. Photo by Jon Bauer\"\"\u2018The Illusionist With Kevin Blake\u2019 at The Palace Theater, September 6. Photo by Jon Bauer\"\"\u2018The Illusionist With Kevin Blake\u2019 at The Palace Theater, September 6. Photo by Jon Bauer\"\"\u2018The Illusionist With Kevin Blake\u2019 at The Palace Theater, September 6. Photo by Jon Bauer<\/p>\n

Blake encourages skepticism from the audience, oddly enough. Look, we all know magic isn\u2019t \u201creal\u201d\u2014and he doesn\u2019t pretend otherwise. Instead, he acknowledges our incredulity, and then states his intention to \u201cwrench disbelief\u201d from the audience, fooling us again and again.<\/p>\n

In addition to card-guessing, Blake leans into the current popular resurgence of speed-solving Rubik\u2019s cubes, at the same time regailing us with a tale of how he justified the expense of the fancy cubes to his wife.<\/p>\n

Blake uses true or \u201cmostly true\u201d stories, including an explanation of how Brad Christain<\/a>\u2019s How to Do Street Magic<\/a> video was his staple as a budding pro. <\/p>\n

A master of audience work, he moves around, engaging as many people as possible: calling on volunteers, seating people around a card table, pulling audience members onstage. He renders the Palace Theater cabaret room even more intimate by including everyone\u2014those in the front seats, of course, but also in the balcony.<\/p>\n

Note: the matinees are great for kids. Many were in attendance at September 6 Sunday show, and proved willing and charming participants. As always, the Place Theater is a delightful venue, with its 1920s speakeasy vibe and attentive staff. Slight of Drink<\/a> cocktails created by mixologist Carlo Splendorini<\/a> are available for evening shows.<\/p>\n

To create a narrative arc for the show, a candlestick telephone has been mounted on the wall, and rings periodically. Blake picks up the receiver and hangs up\u2014until the end of the show when the gag\u2019s true meaning is revealed. <\/p>\n

One of the last acts of the show plays on the central tension of magic spectatorship. Blake explains how his younger self experienced a \u201cfeeling of wonder and astonishment\u201d after being delightfully deceived at a David Copperfield<\/a> show, and tells us that he wants to offer that same sensation to audiences. We sort of want to know how the magic tricks work\u2014and Blake tantalizes us with clues. But he\u2019s right, we don\u2019t really want to know. <\/p>\n

Blake is whip-smart and gently humorous, laughing at himself and our shared humanity. His magic skills are extraordinary. According to him, some pieces in the evolving show take just weeks to perfect, others take years, and some take decades. He\u2019s put his time in\u2014making even repeat visits to The Illusionist well worth yours.\u2014Patty Riek<\/p>\n

THE ILLUSIONIST: BEST OF 5 YEARS OF MAGIC runs Sat\/12 through October 18. The Palace Theater, SF. More info and tickets here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Polls are open for our 2026 Best of the Bay!\u00a0Vote here now, and enjoy our Editors\u2019 Picks of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-460615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}