Did Sweet think the audience still needed convincing? Is that why, halfway through, the show becomes a courtroom drama? And why does a preacher we've never seen before pop in to summarize everything that's just been summarized for us in the courtroom? Even worse, why does director Gene Terruso force Kate Raines to adopt a ridiculous warble when portraying Mrs. Roosevelt?
Despite the appearances of Johnnie Hobbs Jr. and Tom McCarthy, despite the workmanlike efforts of its young, capable cast, both the script and production fail to do their subject justice. - Wendy Rosenfield
$20. 8 tonight and tomorrow night; 2 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday. At Skyline Performance Arts Center, 211 S. Broad St., 16th floor. How to Write a Magic Show in One Week or Less. Sleight-of-hand here, card tricks there and overall illusion mark the first show in Center City's newest theater - Brasso's Magic Theater, a sweet, brick-walled space at the east end of Callowhill Street that holds about 70 people and used to house a poultry sales operation before it was made over. (Is this a case of magic itself? Poof! Mum, the theater devoted to puppetry, disappeared this summer. Poof! Now we have one devoted to magic.)
Two fine young magicians, Randy Shine and Francis Menotti, are saddled with a cardboard script for their hour-long show - but when they get the magic going, they're excellent. They start off with coins and sponges (clown noses, really) that come out of nowhere, then move on to more complicated tricks. By the end, they've gotten to mentalism - they tell you what word an audience member chooses, and better than that.
