I remember when John Graham’s Stage by Stage was released (Vanishing Inc., 2021). However 2020-2021 was a challenging time for all of us. I’ll use that as my excuse for putting it on the back burner. The premise – building a stand-up/platform show from where you are with your existing material – was intriguing to me. Just not sure why it wasn’t intriguing enough to click “add to cart.”
Over the last two years, the book gained popularity and slowly disappeared from shelves. It’s still listed on the Vanishing Inc. website complete with the obligatory “email me when available” link. I’m suspicious of these as I don’t believe that anyone has ever been notified of anything returning to stock. Listing out of stock items that will never return is a pet peeve. It’s just not magic dealers who do this but they seem to be the most blatant offenders. Magic publishing and manufacturing is a cottage industry. If something goes out, it’s not likely to return. (Side note: if there’s a prop you like, do yourself a favor and buy two. If something happens to one, you have a backup). I digress…
I recently found a copy of the Graham book through an estate sale. The story of the estate sale is quite tragic and I was saddened to learn of the loss of a relatively young performer. Again I digress…
Stage By Stage begins with a Forward by Asi Wind and Introduction by John Graham. Our learning journey begins starting where you are by taking close up material you know and moving it to the parlor and platform. John uses a few of his own as examples including his version of the Paul Harris Anything Deck (Art of Astonishment, A-1 Multimedia, 1996) and a finger ring routine that’s caused me to rethink my opinion of ring flight.
The second chapter covers Graham’s Three P’s: planning, performing, and perfecting your show. Then in the third chapter, he describes what type of effects should be openers, middles, and closers. Again he offers his versions of effects to illustrate. A couple of these made it into my notebook for future exploration.
The fourth and fifth chapters are the nuts and bolts of running a professional show. Topics include structure and routining a show as well as music, scripting, prop management, and table and staging. These are lessons learned from a full time professional. The book closes with an analysis of three shows Graham has performed and some final thoughts on being a professional magician.
This is a great book. I’m sorry it took me so long to get a copy. It’s well written and engaging. John Graham seems like a great person too. Hopefully one day I will meet him and thank him for his work.