A Violent Standing Ovation
Kudos to Chloe Olewitz and her article on the manufactured standing ovation in the May issue of Genii. Finally, someone in the magic community is saying it. It seems now every performance no matter how banal results in a standing ovation. I wonder how many know that live audiences in television talk shows are told to stand at the introductions, at commercial breaks and at the end. The same is true for talent shows that, in my opinion, initiated this trend.
More and more performers feel their show was not successful but for a standing ovation. So, in a misguided attempt they engage in creating one by guilting audiences to leave their seats through forced gestures, delayed responses and sob stories about their hardships, disappointments and tragedies.
No less than Laurence Olivier himself, according to Nöel Coward, rarely received standing ovations and, on one occasion, was observed smashing the furniture in his dressing room because he didn’t know why the audience—at this performance—and not others chose to stand. A standing ovation should be rare and spontaneous coming from the audience and nowhere else.
—Thomas Solomon
From a legend of the theater world, we move to some observations about two magical greats…
Lavand and Christopher
I attended a lecture by René Lavand about 20 years or so ago, and he expressed the opinion that applause, not even standing ovations, should be a spontaneous expression by the audience. I recall that one of the points he made was similar to that of one of your interviewees: that applause was an emotional release and an authentic response.
One or more of the panel also mentioned that there sometimes is a need to educate/train the audience about applauding (not even necessarily standing ovations) and that is OK as in the performance of magic or mentalism the audience sometimes isn’t quite sure how or when to respond.
I have two thoughts: The first comes from an observation I had when I saw a live performance by Milbourne Christopher. At the end of each routine (and sometimes within a routine), he paused and held position—not necessarily an applause position, but simply being still to allow the audience room to applaud. And they did. That leads to a second point: Knowing when to pause is important in performances to signal the end of a magical moment as well as the end of a routine. When I was starting out my own lack of experience and confidence often led me to rush through my performances, moving way too quickly from one routine to another, and also within a given routine. With experience and growing confidence I learned not to fear this and to perform in a way that allowed a deeper experience of the magic.
So, perhaps the standing ovation instead of being manufactured can be an extension of this idea, in that the more deeply the audience has felt the magic in your performance the more natural and authentic the standing ovation may be. And, as a number of the panelists mentioned, a standing ovation is not the only possible authentic and satisfying response to your performance.
—Allen Zingg
Next we have a description of a standing ovation produced (or perhaps not produced) the right way…
The Only Reasonable Thing to Do
I read Chloe Olewitz’s “An Oral History of the Manufactured Standing Ovation” in the May issue just a few days after a visit to The Magic Castle, where I saw Johnny Ace Palmer perform his close-up act. The timing was striking: Johnny’s act is the opposite of nearly everything the article describes.
His work is well known and respected by a great many magicians, and deservedly so. What I keep coming back to, though, is his presence—a gentle kindness that comes through in everything he does at the table. The act builds steadily, with several points along the way that could each have earned a standing ovation on their own. By the end, he’s carried the room so high that leaping to your feet feels like the only reasonable thing to do. Nobody was instructed to stand, no cue was given, nothing was engineered. The ovation was earned because Johnny worked for many years.
Chloe’s article ends by asking where we go from here, now that standing ovations have lost much of their meaning. For my money, Johnny Ace Palmer is a pretty good answer. This is what the rest of us should be working toward.
—Andrew Bennett
And finally, an observation from an agent…
An Evolving Phenomenon
Great article in Genii on standing ovations. I’m an act turned agent and when I first started booking acts in the mid ‘90s the only marketing videos of acts that always had standing ovations were those working cruise ships. Most of those were just taking advantage of the fact that everyone was leaving to go to the next activity on the ship. And no, I won’t stand for a forced ovation.
—Mark Sparks
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