As July in Melbourne is Magic Festival season, the July edition of Top Hat Tuesdays was included in the festival program. Indeed, the July installment of Top Hat Tuesdays was billed as a “Magic Festival Showcase”. This show lived up to its name as many of the magicians on the bill that night had shows in the festival. The show was hosted by Dom Chambers (of ‘Dom and Dumber’ fame) who was hell bent on destroying an audience member’s phone (all in good faith of course!). Local magician (and supporter of Top Hat Tuesday) Scott Smith commenced the evening of magical entertainment with comedy magic and some amusing predictions. Scott’s performance included plenty of audience participation (especially from yours truly!) which garnered many laughs and much enjoyment from the audience. Pierre Ulric astounded the audience with his metal bending skills and profound audience illustration skills (without even setting eyes on his subject!). The look of disbelief on the face of an audience member as Pierre bent cutlery  with his mind right in front of her eyes was a sight to behold. Lawson Reeves (one half of ‘2 guys, 1 show, no idea’) brought a hat load of fun and witty charm to his performance, featuring all manner of predictions and audience participation. Micky Wyld rounded out the magical evening with his supremely entertaining style, ensuring that he had a special magical ‘assistant’ chosen from the audience and had the audience in hysterics with his on stage antics and humour. Judging by audience member reactions during and after the show, a grand time was had by all.

Even when the Melbourne Magic Festival has come to a close Top Hat Tuesday lives on as Melbourne’s monthly magic show, which testament to how much Melbourne enjoys the magical arts.