As you walk along the main street in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, you’ll see a modest vintage storefront with signage for Precision Clock & Watch, where time seems to have stood still. But all is not what it seems. As you enter the historic space, you’re transported into The Hanley, a hidden close-up Magic Parlour (adjacent to Luana’s Tavern, which was once home to P.J. Hanley’s – Brooklyn’s oldest bar, dating back to 1874, and still retaining the original woodwork and tin ceiling). There within the small, darkened setting, loaded with art, antiques, and collectibles (including countless stopped watches and clocks, each showing a different time), you’ll experience Greg Dubin’s Magic at the Clock Shop, which will entertain, amaze, and charm you with its unique combination of sleight-of-hand illusions and mentalism, captivating stories and acerbic wit, in a popular one-of-a-kind performance that’s consistently been filled to capacity and repeatedly extended on a monthly basis since it opened in April.
The show offers two seating options: At The Table, where you’re right there with the master magician; and General Admission, just a few steps back on a comfortable bar stool, but still very close. Along with the astonishing feats and engaging repartee, you can also enjoy drinks from Luana’s full cash bar featuring specialty cocktails, served in the Parlour by the friendly and accommodating hostess Jenny Smith, who makes her way through the tightly packed sold-out room with great agility – a perfect match for the consummate dexterity of Dubin and his mind-boggling deceptions. With entry limited to just 20 people per show, there are no bad seats for this intoxicating experience. And you can come early or stay afterwards for a delicious dinner from the extensive menu at Luana’s, to make a full night of it.
Upon entering, Jenny escorts you to your seat and Greg greets you, noting everyone’s name and remembering all of them throughout the interactive performance, creating an even greater sense of intimacy among the guests in the secret room. He then introduces us to the history of the building and the neighborhood (he lives just two blocks away), his background (he’s been practicing his self-taught magic since childhood), the array of objects from his own personal collection, and the format of the show, presented in three themed segments: Classics; Bizarre Magick; and Journey into the Mind.
For the opening set, Greg (everyone there is on a first-name basis) asserts that nothing in the art of prestidigitation is real and teases that he’ll show us how the tricks work, employing the classic props of a kerchief, egg, deck of cards, cups and balls, and a magic wand. But instead of revealing the secrets, he confounds us again and again with his mystifying legerdemain. All of the participating members of the audience, who had direct contact with him and the objects he used, were completely bewildered, and though I was seated closest to him, with a view under the table where he was performing, I never once saw how he did what he did – even when he executed one of his feats in slow motion. To avoid any spoilers, I won’t get into the specifics of the illusions you’ll see, so you, too, can be surprised and baffled by his stunning skills.
For the second act, set to a soundscape of creepy music (all the sound and lighting were designed and are digitally operated by the multi-talented performer), Greg focused on the Bizarre Magick of voodoo, again proclaiming that nothing about it is real and relating the numbers and suits in a deck of cards to the times of the year, citing the cards most frequently selected by women versus men (an aid to the cognition of mentalists), and handling a small fake voodoo doll (it’s not a real one so you don’t have to worry about being cursed!) stuck full of needles. What he does next with them and a long string is beyond startling and must be seen to be believed – or, more accurately, deceived.
The show closes with the third segment of mentalism, in which Greg leads us on a Journey into the Mind of the audience, involving select participants with the rolling of a die, the selection of cards, and the drawings of something they like. Needless to say, the accuracy of his discernment was spot-on, and the final shock of what he wrote at the beginning of the show, placed in an envelope, and hung on the wall reaffirmed his status as one of NYC’s (and the world’s) greatest practitioners of close-up magic, intuitive abilities, and theatrical finesse, interspersed with humorous quips that avow the inspiration of the hilarious mid-century insult comedian Don Rickles (a poster of whom hangs in the Parlour and whose standup act was, he told me, the first he ever saw, while still in his mother’s womb).
If you’re in search of a jaw-dropping experience that will keep you guessing, gasping, laughing, and joining in on the non-stop fun and surprises, be sure not to miss Greg Dubin’s delightfully uncanny Magic at the Clock Shop. As someone who’s reviewed the acts of many top-notch conjurers from around the globe, I can honestly say that I’m still trying to figure this one out.
Running Time: Approximately one hour and 45 minutes, including two intermissions.
Magic at the Clock Shop plays Wednesdays-Sundays, at Precision Clock and Watch, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, NYC. For tickets (priced at $52.75-78.50, including fees), go online. Please be advised that this show is intended for an adult audience (18+), but on Sundays only, well-behaved teens and tweens accompanied by adults are welcome; they must be dressed appropriately (no shorts), remain off their devices for the duration of the experience, and be respectful of the performance.
