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If you are chronically online, you may be aware of the audio meme that goes: “Want a beer?” “He’s 4!” “I don’t know, what am I supposed to do with him!?” Jamie Leonard is of course not 4, but he is just 18, a fact that will be shocking to anyone who experiences his confident and mature mastery over the stage. He’s 18! What are we supposed to do with him, review him fairly to the same standard of long time adult magicians? That’s apparently all we can do.

Leonard is up front about his age, making multiple references to his recent stint in, well, school, throughout the show. He also is in one of the exact life stages that his chosen theme is more directly relevant to, where the cusp of adulthood that you are falling over reveals that many things that came before it can and will be over in the blink of an eye. This truth is prominent to anyone at a transitional phase of life, so even those in his audience who are long past their school days can and do find it relatable. The magic tricks that he picks are lightly tied into this theme, and are not necessarily anything profoundly original, mostly a selection featuring card and math based tricks. However, his bright presentations keep them feeling fairly fresh, and he performs each and every one to near technical perfection.

When including audience participants in his effects, Leonard finds an excellent balance in being charmingly open and easy with little kids, and gently razzing the adults. He guides everyone clearly and keeps instructions simple, while making the experience enjoyable for all.

Even if you cannot relate to the underlying theme, Leonard has an infectious energy and affable enthuiasm that keep the audience feeling upbeat and engaged. At some points he is literally dancing and prancing around the stage, showing the confidence you might expect only from a much more seasoned performer. The only showmanship facet that really seems to need more experince is enunciation, as occasionally Leonard seems to get a little overexcited and fails to speak clearly. However, these moments are limited.

Jamie Leonard’s Blink of an Eye is an excellent work of a magic show, and his sold out rooms indicate that he is rapidly finding the success he has earned. If this is the level he is capable of performing at as a teenager, his competion should be quaking in their boots at the prospect of what he will be bringing within the next five or ten years.