Some people have aspirations such as climbing Mount Everest. Others, wish to see the Pyramids of Giza. My aspirations aren’t as lofty, I just wanted to see my favorite performing mentalist live and I finally have. On a Thursday evening in September, I sat at the Cort Theatre in New York City awaiting the famous Derren Brown to take the stage. At 8 PM sharp the lights dimmed and the show began and what a show it was. Two hours of hard-hitting, theatrical mentalism unfolded before my very eyes.

I had been a silent fan of Derren Brown for a few years now. As I made my journey through the typical mentalism venues available through the purveyors of magic products, I never found the type of mentalism that spoke to me. I questioned, is mind-reading just having someone think of something and you reveal it? I felt there had to be more substance to the entire process. Mind you some performers came close to what I was looking for. I latched on to the “reading” style methods of Luke Jermay and practiced the mind manipulating linguistic propless style of Peter Turner as well. Both of these performers are still tops as performers go but I still was searching. Finally, my search ended when I came across the name Derren Brown. After watching his performances on YouTube I found what I thought mentalism should be.

Mentalism as a performance art has the reputation of being boring. You would not think that after seeing Derren Brown’s theatrical presentation called Secret. The audience is held spellbound as they strain to hear every word. Using spectators randomly selected from the audience, he seems to know their every thought and predict their every move. Derren Brown is incredibly glib, infinitely adjustable to each spectator and his obviously a master of his craft. There was no second wasted and left the audience wanting more.

The name of the show is Secret and you do not find out until the final minute why the show bears that name. I would love to tell you all about the performances and routines that made up the show but we were asked to keep it a secret (that is not why the show is called as such) so I guess you will have to go and see for yourself. I can tell you one thing though that is not a secret…you won’t be disappointed.

Secret is at the Cort Theatre, NYC, 48th & Broadway