Magic Tricks

As far as magic is concerned, there is nothing here that is new or particularly innovative. That's fine. Sometimes we can learn a lot about standard effects from a seasoned professional. But Katrina is not that either.

She does seem well-suited to entertain five-year-olds, and more power to her. That is not a situation I would be able to handle. But if you want insight into children's magic, you'd be much better off looking into David Kaye's work.

But Katrina also does magic for adults, and recognizes the differences in the audiences. Early on she mentions how she changes her tone for adult shows. But I've seen both her adult and kids shows, and she treats her audience members like children regardless. You could reasonably consider this lecture a "do as I say, not as I do" situation. She's saying the right things, but again, it's nothing new.

Her explanations for tricks, such as they are, are not especially good. For example, she spends a long time showing in great detail how to move a bill from one hand to the other. But at the end she realizes she's been placing it incorrectly and rushes through the correct handling without an explanation. Not that it needed much explanation in the first place, but it shows a lack of preparedness.

I'll be charitable and chalk that up to inexperience with magic lectures. What she has been lecturing on the past year is Zoom shows, particularly the business side of booking them. She's definitely familiar with this topic and it is easily the most valuable part of the lecture. Unfortunately it's just the last 20 minutes of the 3.5 hour runtime, and I can't say the quick bullet point overview is worth the cost.

I feel Katrina's true calling is to be an agent or promoter, and magic is getting in her way. She definitely knows how to work with clients, but her magic seems like a side project. If she had a 90-minute lecture on her business tips, going in-depth into how she handles her marketing, etc, that would probably be worthwhile. I do hope she'll focus her energies where her talents lie, as I think she'd be much more successful staying on the business side.