Orlando Fringe 2022 Review: 'A Magic Show With Jordan Rooks'

Want to relive fond memories of your childhood birthday parties in the basement with a mystifying magician who made objects vanish and appear out of thin air? (I can’t be the only one!) Join Las Vegas prestidigitator Jordan Rooks down in the Stardust Lounge for an evening of illusions that stand along his home city’s best, without any of the self-aggrandizing ego that afflicts some of Vegas' marquee names.

Rooks displays his technical mastery of standard sleight-of-hand and mentalism effects, from regenerating the stuffing scraped out of an Oreo cookie to guessing an audience member’s name and birthdate. None of his methods are especially innovative, but he gives some of these greatest hits a personal twist, using Froot Loops instead of the typical razor blades for a regurgitation trick, or turning a Houdini-style straitjacket escape into a dance routine.

With his amiable, understated stage presence, you can’t help rooting for Rooks, but he’s got stiff competition in this conjurer-heavy festival. He starts strong by tying his tricks into his significant childhood memories, but swiftly abandons that throughline; he also promotes suicide prevention awareness, but mentions the issue too late for it to be meaningfully integrated into his show. Rooks has the skill and passion to make it as a magician, but in this business you’ve gotta have a gimmick; I’d like to see him lean further into the elements of his personal story that make him stand out from his crowded field.

Tickets and show info: A Magic Show With Jordan Rooks