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Cyril the magician Bringing illusion to sun-kissed Rio

When Cyril Takayama sneezes, his head falls off and plops neatly into his hands

Kindra Cooper (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, May 11, 2014

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Cyril the magician Bringing illusion to sun-kissed Rio

When Cyril Takayama sneezes, his head falls off and plops neatly into his hands.

Usually, the American-Japanese magician performs this spoof '€” with reactions ranging from horror to laughter to revulsion '€” on the streets of Japan, disguised as the doddering, white-haired '€œSero jisan'€ or '€œOld Man Cyril'€.

Although an unfailing hit, it'€™s a garden-variety magic trick (hint: stiff, collared jacket required). But Cyril'€™s other illusory flourishes are less easy to fathom.

Take his much-publicized bungee jump from the Circus Circus Las Vegas hotel and casino to spear a card chosen by his co-host from a full deck floating on the water below, using a sword, or when he visibly forced his fist through an aquarium to extract a pearl necklace displayed inside (leaving the glass utterly intact) on the hit AXN show Cyril'€™s Family Vacation: Hawaii Edition (2012).

Now returning with reality series Cyril: Rio Magic, filmed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the 40-year-old illusionist is looking to raise the theatrical stakes.

'€œThe intention was to blend in and go local,'€ Cyril said in a phone interview with The Jakarta Post.

'€œThe producers had prepared a closetful of different types of costumes ['€¦] that were very local. Every day or the night before we would play dress-up and figure out what the next character would be.'€

The first season of the series sees the magician adopt various flamboyant personas: from mustached painter Jean Pierre, who rolls the letter '€œr'€ more vigorously than any Frenchman and needs neither a brush nor his hands, to the greasy-haired Barista Cyril, who serves a mysterious '€œhandmade coffee'€ to passersby outside the Confeitaria Colombo, Rio'€™s famous palatial coffee shop.

Onlookers gawked as steam issued from Cyril'€™s cupped hands as he shook the raw coffee beans they contained. When he opened his palms, the beans were fragrant and fully-roasted. After swigging some water, Cyril cupped his hands and shook them again and, upon release, freshly brewed coffee flowed into the cup he held aloft.

Fans of the magician would recognize the '€œlocalized'€ take on Cyril'€™s famous transforming-water-to-ice-before-your-eyes trick.

'€œThe way that I try to keep the magic alive within myself is by constantly evolving as an artist and always coming up with new and innovative ways to [do] new tricks; or to do the same magic but to tell the magic story in a different way,'€ said Cyril, who, aside from having performed all over Southeast Asia '€” including in Taipei, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur '€” displays a commendable knack for engaging crowds on the street.

'€œI just wanted to tell magic in a different way, to create a show where my viewers could laugh with me, laugh at me and laugh together.'€

Brazilian TV viewers, accustomed to prank reality shows such as the notorious Silvio Santos Program involving an elevator ghost prank that went viral, are ordinarily wary of street acts, but for Cyril, magic '€” not to mention dogged persistence '€” is a universal icebreaker.

'€œCommunication is very important but magic is a universal language where you don'€™t really need to understand what is being said.'€

However, the biggest challenge during five weeks of filming in sun-kissed, culture-rich Rio, host city for the FIFA World Cup in June and the Winter Olympics 2016, was the language barrier.

'€œI'€™m kind of like a gypsy '€” not a gypsy but a chameleon. I can adapt to any lifestyle very easily,'€ Cyril confessed.

But the illustrious illusionist, who did not speak the local language of Portuguese, found it difficult to command attention when he went incognito as a vendor at a busy Ipanema fruit market.

'€œI'€™ve never had to work so hard in my life to get people to stop! You'€™ve got to have a gimmick,'€ he said on the show. It took some fancy knife work and gifting passersby with free bananas '€” only to make them disappear. But he insists that as a performer his intention is to entertain '€” not deceive.

'€œAll of my magic does have a secret, but ['€¦] I'€™m not out there trying to trick people but I'€™m just trying to take a moment out of people'€™s days and their lives and bring a little bit of joy and happiness to them,'€ said Cyril, who made a cameo as a magician exploiting magic for ill-gotten gains in martial arts film Redbelt (2008).

Even before the era of Internet transparency, TV shows like Breaking the Magician'€™s Code: Magic'€™s Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed (1997-2009) had magicians scrambling to inventory the innards of their once-sacramental bag of tricks. Why would magicians do something that could potentially undermine themselves '€” if not the industry?

'€œThere'€™s a line to be drawn for a lot of these artists that are out there, who create the magic because they'€™re trying to bring wonderment to their viewers. And for people to go out there and try to expose them ['€¦] '€” it'€™s very sad.'€

Nurturing that '€œwonderment'€ isn'€™t easy for the performer, who knows the tricks step-by-step, as well as every switch and knob on the apparatus behind the curtain, so to speak, but Cyril finds satisfaction in his viewer'€™s reactions.

'€œI always aim to remember the first time that I saw magic and how that made me feel,'€ said Cyril, whose infatuation with magic began at the age of six after watching a woman levitate during a show in Las Vegas.

'€œAnd I feel that that is what I have to be able to portray to others. And so the second that it feels like a routine or a job I lose the magic within myself and it no longer becomes magic '€” it just becomes a job.'€

Dubbed '€œmagic'€™s first cyber celebrity'€, Cyril believes contemporary magic is better than ever as it has evolved from a '€œrare art form'€ to skills that one can glean from watching YouTube.

'€œNowadays magic has become more recognized and you don'€™t actually have to go to a theater to see magic. The magicians are now coming to the audience in everyday situations.'€

Indeed, Cyril convenes with fans by traveling around Japan performing stage shows known as Magic Revolution: The Xperience.

A member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians since 1992 and inducted into the Junior Program at Hollywood'€™s Magic Castle at 12, Cyril found himself busking on Shinjuku'€™s streets by the age of 17, sometimes with barely enough money to eat one meal a day. But hardship became fodder for hard work.

'€œI'€™m working on the next thing, which is my '€˜life show'€™. And during my life show I'€™m not coming out and doing a two-hour character-based live performance,'€ said Cyril. '€œIt'€™s going to be a journey of my magic.'€

Cyril: Rio Magic
Friday at 6:40 p.m. on AXN


Photos courtesy of AXN

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