For more than 25 years as a magician and mentalist, Jason Bird did it all.
A Las Vegas headliner, he performed over 9,000 times. He appeared on NBC, Fox and The CW’s “Masters of Illusion.” His work captivated audiences of pro athletes, Hollywood stars and royal families. He’s awed corporate clients like Google, American Express, Microsoft, BMW and AT&T.
What can possibly be next?
Westport.
On October 25, November 22 and December 13, Bird brings his new “Parlor of Impossibilities” show to the Delamar Westport.
The intimate setting — a private room by the Dandelion restaurant — is far different from Bally’s 1,040-seat Jubilee theater, a cruise ship or TV studio.
And Bird can’t wait to work it.
His new show is “much more than card tricks,” he tells “06880.” “Everyone in the audience is involved. It’s thought-provoking. I’m able to relate to every person there.
“I spent years performing big shows in big rooms. But there is something entirely different about magic when the audience is only a few feet away. You can see everything. You can hear everything. People hold the objects. They make the choices. There’s nowhere for me to disappear.”
Connecticut is now Bird’s home. The Wisconsin native spent more than 2 decades based in the desert. He’d fallen in love with magic at 15. At 17, he told his parents he wanted to move where “all the magicians were”: Vegas.
His parents said fine — provided he went to law school. Bird took pre-law courses at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, before beginning his entertainment career.
“I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain,” he admits. “But I got work for 25 years.”
During the pandemic — when no entertainers were working — he and his wife discussed next steps. He wanted to do an off-Broadway, East Coast-type show. Besides, he missed “trees and living things.”
“It was almost like throwing a dart,” Bird recalls. “We didn’t know anyone in Connecticut.”
But after looking at several towns — including Westport, which they loved — the Birds moved to Glastonbury. The schools are excellent, and they admire the state.
“There are beautiful hotels, restaurants, historic towns, and people here who want interesting things to do,” he says.
The next step was designing a show. “Parlor of Impossibilities” blends sleight of hand, psychological illusion, mind reading, impossible predictions, inexplicable coincidences, storytelling, humor and wonder, just inches from the audience.
“Magic has a reputation for being either something for children, or something enormous with fire and dancers and people disappearing from boxes,” Bird says.
“There’s another tradition that I’ve always loved: the magician in a beautiful room with a small group of people, where the impossibility happens right in front of you. That’s what I wanted to bring back.
“Adults become very good at knowing how everything works,” he says. “We Google it. We explain it. We solve it. There are not many opportunities left to sit in a room and genuinely say, ‘I have absolutely no idea how it happened.'”
The Delamar hotels are a perfect partner for “Parlor.” In addition to Westport, Bird will perform 3 shows at another boutique property, the Delamar West Hartford. He’s in talks with the Delamar Mystic too.
Delamar Westport.
The Delamar Westport’s room — with its upscale, luxurious feel — is almost a character in Bird’s show.
It will be decorated with vintage magic and vaudeville posters. A Victrola will play old-time music. The mood evokes private salons and drawing rooms of generations ago.
As for Westport, Jason knew the town’s long relationship with the arts, theater and creative people.
The more he’s learned about it — and the more time he’s spent here — the more it feels like exactly where “Parlor of Impossibilities” belongs.
It’s a place where “people value live performance, great restaurants, theater, art, and the idea of actually going out and experiencing something.”
And because we’re so close to New York, Westporters “know what a great show feels like. I like that challenge.”
He hopes to build upon his first 3 shows, to create “something with roots” here. He wants “Parlor” to be “one of those things people associate with a night out here — something you bring friends to when they’re visiting, something you tell someone they have to experience, something you come back to because no 2 audiences, and no 2 shows, are exactly alike.”
Jaosn Bird is ready. “Parlor of Impossibilities” promises to be a wonder-ful time.
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