Rating: 
Summary: Run...Run Screaming...Run Screaming far from this DVD
Review: If you are getting this DVD because you have great memories of the Broadway Show, adored the score, and have generally been waiting for this to turn up, please, please save your money. West End Avenue is missing, the Goldfarb Variations are missing, Charmin's Lament has been changed beyond any recognition. The actor playing Van Syskind is adequate, I guess. Didi Conn (who I love, btw) is fine. Anita Morris is great, but has been hamstrung by the changes to her character. Doug, well, what can I say, Doug was a great magician and it's wonderful to see him perform. And, **perhaps**, if that's all you're looking for..great magic and the one (Lion Tamer) or two (Up to His Old Tricks (although the arrangement is not as good)) hummable songs they've allowed to remain, then maybe you won't be stunningly disappointed that you spent money on this disc.
Rating: 
Summary: The Magic Show
Review: I am presuming here that this DVD will be a copy of the film that was shot in Canada and never released. The film is great, shot over a couple of weeks of performances with some new routines that never appeared in the original stage show. The film was directed by Sammy Bayes who also directed the stage show in Australia. Anita Morris is delicious and Australia's Jon Finlayson re-creates the role he made famous here in OZ. Larry Anderson played the role of the magician. Doug Henning is well... Doug Henning... and who could complain about that. One of the great TV magicians who also did something valuable for the theatre. He should be remembered for not only this stage show but for draging magic into the 20th century. Others have capitalised on the TV genre but Doug was amongst the first with the prime time TV specials, lets not forget that. There are new songs and the show is a delight from start to finish especially if you are a magic afficinado or, like me, have been in the production. I worked with Jon, Sammy & Larry in the Australian production in 1975. Thanks goodness we can finally get to see this gem......
Rating: 
Summary: Okay, but don't expect the music
Review: I bought this hoping to see a film of the broadway show. This isn't it. As mentioned in another review, some of the best music has been dropped, and some songs that are kept are changed (at least from the OCR). Worse yet, the songs that replace the originals are always worse than the originals. I enjoyed Didi Conn in her role, and the reset of the cast did a credible job. If I didn't know the OCR so well, I might have enjoyed this a lot more, but as it was I was disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Massively Disappointed
Review: I did see the broadway show and also had the chance to see the Mexican version of the show, ( the only one that ever made it to a forgein language) the show was is "ok" it never "work" in other language than English but the VIDEO CAST is terrible ANITA MORRIS was the one of the good things of this show, and that is due to fact that her husband was the choreographer, and she had great talents as you can see in this tape, Doug was not an actor..."MERLIN".. why don't you ask CHITA RIVERA was 'fine' for the time and the cost of tickets ( NOW we have much better magic and shows for free on TV) , and I do miss all those great songs that are not in this version, also this is not Gover Dale's show, he and Jerry Zaks made it to a hit.. but I guess they wanted to do a film( money) or a video( less money) or a TV special ( pay for the salaries ) out of this material...and when they did see it as terrible as it is NOW.. THEY SAID " NO WAY JOSE"... so why do we have to pay for this ?
IT IS NOT WORTH
Even it is terrible for a free flight movie from Kabul to Des Moines
Roberto
Rating:
Summary: One of the worst "stage to film" jobs,
Review: I did see the broadway show and also had the chance to see the Mexican version of the show, ( the only one that ever made it to a forgein language) the show was is "ok" it never "work" in other language than English but the VIDEO CAST is terrible ANITA MORRIS was the one of the good things of this show, and that is due to fact that her husband was the choreographer, and she had great talents as you can see in this tape, Doug was not an actor..."MERLIN".. why don't you ask CHITA RIVERA was 'fine' for the time and the cost of tickets ( NOW we have much better magic and shows for free on TV) , and I do miss all those great songs that are not in this version, also this is not Gover Dale's show, he and Jerry Zaks made it to a hit.. but I guess they wanted to do a film( money) or a video( less money) or a TV special ( pay for the salaries ) out of this material...and when they did see it as terrible as it is NOW.. THEY SAID " NO WAY JOSE"... so why do we have to pay for this ?
IT IS NOT WORTH
Even it is terrible for a free flight movie from Kabul to Des Moines
Roberto
Rating: 
Summary: The Magic Show with none of the Charm
Review: I saw the show on Broadway twice, once wtih the original cast and again later. This is not a movie of that show. I saw this on video several years ago and it's dratically different from the play/musical. Lion Tamer and Charmen's Lamentand the Goldfarb Vairations are gone (the best numbers in the show) and several illusions have been replaced wiht stuff from Doug's specials, to the detriment of the production. IT shows off some good magic, and tells the same basic story, but if you're looking at a bit of history of the original show, you are going to be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Nice Magic, but...
Review: I saw this show in previews at the Cort Theatre in New York. It was never a great show, but had three things going for it: Doug Henning, a terrific supporting cast and some great songs by Stephen Schwartz. On this DVD all you get is Doug Henning. Three of the best numbers (Goldberg variations, West End Avenue and Solid Silver Platform Shoes) are missing or replaced. Didi Conn, who is a lovely comedic actress cannot sing Lion Tamer, which may explain why they dropped West End Avenue. The rest of the cast is fair. I'm glad I bought this for the memories, but I wish it had more of what I remember on it.
Rating:
Summary: pretty bad
Review: I thought this would be interesting, with some good magic by Doug Henning, but it turns out to be rather boring. Couldn't get myself to watch it straight through without using fast-forward.
Rating:
Summary: Could it be Magic? (not quite)
Review: I was thrilled when I found out this had been released. Although I had not seen the original production, I know the score well and have performed several of the songs in cabaret and couldn't wait to see the entire production. I know the chances of ever seeing/doing this in community theatre are slight at best. Apparently, I still haven't seen it. The biggest dissappointment is the omission of "Goldfarb Variations", "Solid Silver Platform Shoes" and (in the "what were they THINKING?" category), "West End Avenue". It was, however, delightful to see Doug Henning and the incomparable Anita Morris again. Henning's important contribution to the world of illusions is well represented here, and gives a fun reminder of what the 70's were like. I still love this score, although I will forever put my money on the Original Broadway Cast recording. This is a good DVD to have for a collector, but don't expect too much. The story is inane, the jokes vaudevillian, and the acting merely adequate. Nonetheless, how nice to occaisionally see a forgotten show come back to the surface, huh?
Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing!
Review: I wish I had read some of the other reviews of this DVD before buying it (sorry, Amazon, this one I bought in a store). The ones that are critical of this version of "The Magic Show" are EXACTLY right on. HUGE disappointment that 2 of the show's original songs ("Solid Silver Platform Shoes" and "West End Avenue") are replaced by inferior ones, one is in but has been altered ("Charmin's Lament"), and one is gone and not replaced at all ("Goldfarb Variations"). Granted, this was made back in '81 and maybe today the choices would have been different ("Solid Silver Platform Shoes" is on another CD as recent as 1999 -- on Alice Ripley's and Emily Skinner's duet album "Unsuspecting Hearts"). However, this is not at all representative of the show I saw on Broadway. Didi Conn was the wrong choice, and Anita Morris was wasted.
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