In and Of Itself, ensconced at the Daryl Roth Theatre until mid-August is a very high concept magic show.  It features Derek DelGaudio, directed by Frank Oz and produced by Neil Patrick Harris.  The evening is long on meditation about identity and meaning and only fits about a half dozen illusions into the 75 minute show.  This is a low trick to minute ratio but all of the magic is strong and impressive.  He proves himself an able card manipulator, mind reader and grand illusionist.  He takes himself very seriously and the atmospherics are sometimes a little irritating.  If you need a bang a minute thrill ride this is not the show for you, but you will like it if you want sophisticated evening which combines lots of long pauses and a few seriously good surprises.

Interestingly Mr. DelGaudio teamed with magician Helder Guimarães in a highly touted event a few years ago.  They went their separate ways and Helder Guimarães performed in New York last year (Verso, reviewed here earlier) and Helder did a similar illusion to Mr. DelGaudio’s featured trick of identifying which cards were selected by audience members prior to the show and revealed during the performance.  I would bet this was a trick being worked on by the pair before their split and each took it in a different direction on their own.  A good illusion, but knowable.

As always you can find more at http://www.walterthinnes.com and on Twitter @walterthinnes

TOMORROW: A tasty National Day that is not for everyone