New York Critic

The Quantum Eye written and performed by Sam Eaton produced by Eaton Magic Creations, Inc. In The Quantum Eye , mentalist Sam Eaton presents such terrific demonstrations of his talent that by the show’s end we’re certain that he possesses telepathy, precognition and any other paranormal skill he might choose to claim. Actually, he doesn’t claim any; he tells us that he works with suggestion, mnemonics and non-verbal cues. In the first demonstration of his powers, he has four volunteers on stage. One is told he’s the murderer , and each one tells Eaton that he is not the murderer. By examining their facial expressions and holding each one’s arm, he can tell which one is lying. He chats with them a bit first, and he told us in the performance I saw that was establishing “a base line for truth.” In another demonstration, he draws the same figure that his audience member has drawn and concealed. He writes numbers on a chart so that vertically, horizontally and in blocks they add...

Going Once! Laughing Twice!! by Brian Jaffe directed by Eric Parness produced by Sixth Sense Productions The premise of Going Once! Laughing Twice!!, the silly, entertaining, interactive show from Sixth Sense Productions, is that the audience is bidding at a fine art auction – the type we might find at Christie’s or Sotheby’s. We’re given bidding paddles when we enter, and a wad of big phony bills in large denominations.  We’re encouraged to go on stage and examine the “artwork”, and we’re offered “champagne”. And so we’re already a part of the show by the time the bidding begins, primed to participate. Once the auction is underway, the paddles flutter and the bids jump by millions. Under the direction Eric Parness, the actors do a terrific job of keeping in parody. The personalities we meet are mostly zany. The auction house owner, played by the playwright, Brian Jaffe, is the buffoon. His girlfriend is a doll whose “performance art” – performed privately in the ...