{"id":322876,"date":"2026-06-28T23:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T23:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/322876\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T23:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T23:00:08","slug":"drew-thomas-brings-out-the-magical-side-of-orlando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/322876\/","title":{"rendered":"Drew Thomas brings out the magical side of Orlando"},"content":{"rendered":"

In front of an Orlando crowd, magician Drew Thomas jokes that he knows it\u2019s a cashless society, but asks if anyone in the crowd has a quarter.<\/p>\n

The master illusionist is about to wow the audience with his sleight of hand, coin in a soda can trick.<\/p>\n

Thomas\u2019 show also includes sawing his assistant in half and a mind-blowing numbers calculation with numbers taken randomly from the audience. It\u2019s all leading up to his vanishing grand finale.<\/p>\n

Thomas, who appeared as a finalist on \u201cAmerica\u2019s Got Talent\u201d Season 4<\/a>, has lived in Orlando for about a decade.<\/p>\n

Orlando certainly isn\u2019t New York City or Los Angeles, but in the shadow of the theme parks at the United States\u2019 No. 1 tourism destination, Central Florida retains talent like Thomas, 57, who forge their own creative path to earn a living.<\/p>\n

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Thomas performs \u201cThe Magic Show\u201d in a residency<\/a> at Grande Lakes Orlando, home to Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels. His shows are scheduled throughout the Summer, with Halloween and Christmas-themed shows coming later this year.<\/p>\n

Thomas\u2019 career is fascinating.<\/p>\n

He was tapped in during the blue sky creative process for Epic Universe, Universal\u2019s new theme park that includes a Harry Potter expansion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to consult on everything from what characters are doing in the park to what the shows are incorporating magically, to window effects, to how the wands work \u2014 a litany from A to Z, anything to do with anything that is part of what a person would would assume is wizardry,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n

Thomas already had a long history of working with Universal.<\/p>\n

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He co-created Jack\u2019s Carnival of Wonders that debuted at Halloween Horror Nights in 2007 and was later reincarnated in 2015. The show was edgy, bloody and gory, a woodchipper included.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so gritty,\u201d Thomas said of the illusions that he \u201ccreated from scratch.\u201d<\/p>\n

These days, Thomas is less dark and more stand-up comedian as he interacts with the audience and brings them on stage.<\/p>\n

Thomas grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and remembered his grandparents fostering his love of magic by buying used magic books at the library book sale.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was learning his craft despite some books missing pages because his grandma cautiously ripped out the illusions she feared were about the dark arts.<\/p>\n

He began practicing basic card tricks and beginner\u2019s magic.<\/p>\n

Thomas developed a reputation as the \u201cMagic Man\u201d in school, but he was also a savvy businessman. He was the son of parents who owned franchises to sell vitamins and cosmetics.<\/p>\n

When the 16-year-old broke his leg skateboarding, it made him get serious.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was raised with that entrepreneurial spirit, and as time went on as I was starting to build my magic career, I decided to really make a big run at this,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cIt was like, \u2018OK, well, I\u2019m going to go create an opportunity.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

His first gig was at a kid\u2019s birthday party, doing balloon tricks and other magic. Thomas performed with a full leg cast on and got paid $150.<\/p>\n

Then the 17-year-old got hired at a Midwestern chain restaurant to dress as a clown \u2014 rainbow afro, big shoes and the works \u2014 and perform magic from table to table.<\/p>\n

Thomas, inherently shy, learned how to think on his feet and quip wisecracks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI give a lot of credit to that helping to shape my ability to be improvisational and funny,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cIt was very empowering to realize that I could create something that I was passionate about \u2026 and go sell it and people would pay me to do that. That was mind-boggling. That obviously continued to fuel the passion for discovering more and doing more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas\u2019 unconventional career included playing one of the lead characters in the Columbus Ballet\u2019s \u201cNutcracker\u201d and developing entertainment for theme parks and cruises.<\/p>\n

At 40, he performed for his most famous crowd yet: \u201cAmerica\u2019s Got Talent\u201d judges Simon Cowell, David Hasselhoff, Piers Morgan and Sharon Osbourne. It added legitimacy for his career going forward, he said.<\/p>\n

For Thomas, most adults walk into his hotel show with a low bar for magic. But his show isn\u2019t a kiddie all-you-can-eat pizza buffet with a magician included.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI love making people happy. I love entertaining,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cI love making people smile and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In front of an Orlando crowd, magician Drew Thomas jokes that he knows it\u2019s a cashless society, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[133761,6113,48174,2664,139,141,140,16677,3435],"class_list":["post-322876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-drew-thomas","tag-epic-universe","tag-grande-lakes-orlando","tag-halloween-horror-nights","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-orlando-tourism","tag-universal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}