☆☆☆☆

It’s worth noting, to help with expectation management for his future audiences, that Andrew Frost has not been officially deemed The Greatest Card Magician in the World, despite that being the title of his show. However, ‘The Greatest Card Magician in the World’ may very well be one of the greatest card magic shows in the world, or at the very least at the Fringe—a line that Frost is of course more than welcome to selectively quote. What makes it compelling is not Frost’s position on any one person’s leaderboard of card magicians, but how he manages to make card magic so much fun.

As is heavily hinted in the title, in The Greatest Card Magician in the World Frost focuses on card magic. It’s as perfectly performed as the audience will expect from the title. A highlight is a routine that Frost invites multiple members of the audience to participate in. This manages the difficult task of providing a surprise of an ending in a card trick, a format perhaps known best for having the most easily anticipated ending of any magic trick.

Frost gets a lot of the audience involved in the show, and creates a welcoming environment to make this as unintimidating a process as possible. Frost is so personable that, at the reviewed show, a reluctant member of the audience agreed to join him onstage even when Frost allowed for a clear way out if the audience member truly didn’t want to be involved. While one audience participant does have a more involved role, Frost cleverly structures his routines to essentially go through a quick vetting process to pick someone who will be comfortable with the attention. Frost is always in control and the participants are not left at loose ends onstage.

The grandiose name of The Greatest Card Magician in the World isn’t just an attention-getting tactic, but a lead in for Frost to gently satirize magic show and audience tropes throughout the performance. From his spot on advice for audience members who are watching the show to try to work out how the tricks are done, to his teasing of the dramatic backstory for how he got in to magic, right up to the structure of the finale, Frost pokes fun at the stereotypes from a place of clear love for the art form.

It may not be as “shrekxy” as a burlesque show he’s contended with for reviews (what a sentence to experience out of context!), but for fans of card magic The Greatest Card Magician in the World is easily an excellent choice of Fringe show. Frost will teach the audience how to appreciate his card magic and then perform a trick so perfectly that they forget their lessons. It’s perfect card magic in a perfectly written show.