Naked Magicians bring their full-frontal illusions to the Straz Center

When critics and publicists write about the Naked Magicians, they apparently can’t resist using words such as “cheeky” and phrases such as “nothing up their sleeves.”

They don’t seem to talk much about the actual magic or comedy of Mike Tyler and Christopher Wayne, the two Australians who tour the world with their Chippendales-meets-Penn and Teller show. If you read between the lines, you get the impression that the tricks and the jokes are OK, but maybe not all that exceptional.

But the show is popular wherever it goes, so it’s apparently a crowd-pleaser. It’s coming to Ferguson Hall at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa on Thursday. (Ferguson Hall is a lot smaller than Morsani Hall, the largest space at the Straz, so you won’t need binoculars to get a good look at the tricks, or whatever else you want to get a good look at).

It’s an R-rated show and yes, in answer to your question, Tyler and Wayne are, by all accounts, actually completely naked, though (at least in some previous shows) the full-frontal nudity is saved until the end. There’s some audience participation involved, including (in a Chicago show earlier this year) the making of a “hypothetical porno.”

Details: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 12, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa. $45-$65 plus service charge. 813-229-7827, strazcenter.org.

This story was originally published October 11, 2017 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Naked Magicians bring their full-frontal illusions to the Straz Center."