On the final day of the Melbourne Magic Festival, I sat in a theatre bustling with a crowd of families and children to watch Felix The Magician’s debut show at the festival. Titled “Where are you Tony?”, the storyline was that Tony (Felix’ magical rabbit) was running late to the show and it was up to Felix to find him. The wildly colourful assortment of props on stage hinted at the comedy and magical delights that were about to unfold.

Felix himself is an affable magician. He engaged his audience well, welcoming everyone to the show and waving at the large crowd of children sitting closest to the stage. During the show itself, I particularly enjoyed the looks of surprise on Felix’ face when things comically went wrong or when he couldn’t find Tony. I very much enjoyed all the physical comedy / slapstick aspects of the show. Felix’ show also included plenty of magic – some classic magic, for sure, but also some clever pieces of magic that I’d never seen before. Some of Felix’ magic even included household / everyday objects which I found impressive.There were gasps of surprise and delight from audience members when objects disappeared or when Tony the rabbit wasn’t in the place we thought he’d be. There were also loads of laughs (as expected) during this show, especially in relation to a particular scene towards the end of the show. Felix’ show included lots of fun audience participation, which was especially enjoyed by the children in the audience.

Over the course of the show, Felix did a great job of progressing the story via magical effects until the goal was reached. Felix did well to keep his young audience members ‘on track’ with the story too, as well as addressing / acknowledging their concerns – like when children insisted that Tony the rabbit was “over there!!” (while feverishly pointing to a specific box). Those moments were very entertaining for the adults in the audience, but it also brought joy to many to see children get so involved with the storyline.

Overall I was impressed by this show – it certainly didn’t ‘feel’ like a debut festival show for Felix, he was so natural with all the magic and the show flowed well. It was a delight to see a ‘fresh’ family magic show with a fun storyline.

VERDICT: A delightful family magic show, suited to young children and families. Many laughs and magic moments were shared by all. Felix is a friendly host and talented magician, so I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Felix’ show should he reappear at the festival in future.