Most weekly Palace of Mystery shows at The Magic Castle have more than one performer, and it is our entertainment director Jack Goldfinger’s duty to handpick acts that complement one another. These magicians and variety performers usually click into place nicely with one another despite being two or three disparate acts attempting to gel into one seamless 45-minute show.
Most nights in the Palace of Mystery are enjoyable, but it’s when the acts themselves decide to take “seamless” to the next level that real magic occurs, and a well-deserved buzz rapidly builds and lilts through the club. Suddenly, that show has established a “must-see” reputation.
One such show stars the unlikely pairing of Lucy Darling and Dave Kaplan. Away from The Castle, these two entertainers are individually stellar, as their frequent convention appearances and awards can attest. Their onstage personas, however, are so opposite of one another—Lucy with her provocative and snarky nature and Dave’s hapless and bumbling personality—no producer would have ever thought the two would mesh well enough for a show of their own. And, in fact, the pairing was not the brainchild of a producer at all, but, rather, the stars themselves.