My eight-year-old son has been fascinated by magic over the past couple of months, practicing tricks with cards, coins, and household objects. So when the Champions of Magic (Richard Young, Sam Strange, Liberty Larsen, and Fernando Velasco) brought their Holiday Spectacular tour to DC, we jumped at the chance to attend. As we settled into our seats in the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater, my son said, “My favorite part of going to the theater is when the lights go dark and the show is about to begin…you never know what is going to happen next.”
The Champions of Magic kept that sense of theatrical suspense going for the children (and adults) in their audience with a Holiday Spectacular where you truly never knew what was going to happen next. Paying homage to magicians from Merlin (Larsen, descending from the ceiling in a wizard’s cloak and hat) to Harry Houdini to Siegfried & Roy (a leather-clad Young and Strange, backed by projections and lights turning the Kennedy Center stage into the Las Vegas strip), the Champions romped through a high-energy variety act with props, costumes, lighting, sound, and visual effects to rival any Broadway production. When the sound system blew out 30 minutes into the show, the technical crew proved their mettle by having the show up and running again within three minutes — an underrated bit of magic in itself.
Yet the show’s greater magic comes from the four performers themselves as they weave their own stories of how they came to practice magic into their performance. What could otherwise be a disjointed (although spectacularly entertaining) variety act becomes a tale of four kids-at-heart living out their childhood dreams through magic. Much to my son’s delight, Young and Strange started their magical careers as eight-year-olds in England, attempting to “create Las Vegas–style illusions from cardboard and tape.” Larsen, a fourth-generation magician whose grandfather and great-uncle founded Hollywood’s Magic Castle in the 1960s, spins tales of growing up in a family of magicians as she performs one of her great-grandfather’s favorite illusions with a plate and wooden blocks. And Velasco, a renowned escape artist whose father worked at the Magic Castle, walks through the audience to engage them in the illusion he performs while sharing that from a young age, he wanted to become an entertainer to create shared experiences that audiences would never forget.
The children in the audience who eagerly raised their hands to be called on for audience participation throughout the show — and lined up outside the theater afterward begging their parents for the red and green thumb-tip lights used by Strange in a running gag throughout the Holiday Spectacular — are not likely to forget their experience with the Champions of Magic anytime soon. Light on holiday spirit save for Velasco’s spooky tribute to Ebenezer Scrooge and his ghosts, and a “holiday party” featuring Christmas sweaters and parlor tricks to open the second act, the show leaned heavily on the “spectacular” with its illusions, escape artistry, sleight of hand, and pyrotechnics wowing audiences young and old.
For me, the deepest magic of seeing the Champions live was watching my son take in the performance, scribbling notes and inspiration in his diary for the magic tricks he plans to perform for his relatives over the holidays. Larsen shared during the show that the spirit of magic lies in the attitude that “no idea is too eccentric or impossible to entertain or imagine.” That spirit of curiosity and playfulness, of exploring and testing the boundaries of possibility and imagination, was the Champions’ truest gift to their audience.
Running Time: Approximately two hours and 20 minutes, including one intermission.
Champions of Magic: Holiday Spectacular played November 18–23, 2025, in the Eisenhower Theater at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St NW, Washington, DC. Find the remaining 2025 tour dates online.
The digital program for Champions of Magic: Holiday Spectacular is available here.
