☆☆☆☆

Mat Ricardo’s The Extraordinary Gentleman isn’t a magic act -while magic involves pretense, everything that Ricardo performs he is actually doing for real. The skills that he demonstrates are wildly impressive, and he keeps the audience laughing throughout.

A whole circus in one man, Ricardo gets through a wide variety of tricks in his hour long show. Those who don’t like any one of his routines in particular just have to wait a few minutes and he’ll be doing something completely different. An early highlight is his cigar box work, even those who have seen cigar box juggling by others in the past will probably see a new-to-them trick in amongst this segment of the show. This is a recurring theme. With each skill that Ricardo shows off, he first demonstrates his ability in more recognizable tricks, and then shows the audience how he has put his own stamp on the classics.

One of the aspects of the performance that differs from magic is that Ricardo does not involve audience participants. He has other ways of making the audience feel anxious, with dangerous props and demonstrations that he wields with abandon. It is always worth remembering that Ricardo is a professional, he does not put the audience in any real danger, and any dangerous situations he places himself in are his choice and thus on his own head. Ricardo manages the balance between keeping the audience in suspense and reassuring them of their safety with the careful skill of a practiced professional.

The Extraordinary Gentleman may contain plenty of circus and cabaret tricks that have been around for a while, but it avoids feeling like a throwback with Ricardo’s innovations and even just the stamp of his personality that is so clear on everything that he performs. If there are elements that come across as a bit old fashioned, they feel more like a homage than a historic artifact.

Ricardo is an entertaining performer who clearly has plenty of skills to show off to his audiences. If there’s a theme to the show it’s that he can do so much more than anyone in the audience, both in terms of quantity and quality—but also that any one of us could perform these extraordinary feats too, if we put in the time that he has. An hour in his company is undoubtedly an hour well spent.