Mystic Tranz-former

Saturday, Sept. 30, 2000 | 1:21 a.m.

Justin Tranz has been mesmerizing Las Vegas audiences for the past 11 months with his hypnotic humor, sharing the stage with members of the audience bold enough to surrender themselves to his power.

With "Hyp-nosis: Playin' With Your Head," Tranz splits his time between two venues, appearing at O'Sheas Tuesdays through Saturdays at 9 p.m., and on Fridays and Saturdays he has a midnight show next door at the Flamingo Las Vegas.

Tranz has performed throughout the country for the past 20 years. He first came to Las Vegas in 1992, not as a hypnotist but as a businessman, opening a string of magic shops around town. Eventually he grew tired of that and returned to the stage.

The 43-year-old Philadelphia native began studying hypnosis at age 8, after seeing a hypnotist perform onstage. He recently shared his thoughts with the Sun about his career and the frustration he feels over not working in larger venues, which he says would better reflect his talent and popularity.

Las Vegas Sun: What attracted you to hypnotism in the first place?

Justin Tranz: As a child, it blew me away. I thought, "Hey, if I learn that I can ... control my parents and I can eat what I want to eat and go to bed when I want." It didn't work with my parents, of course, but I still was fascinated. I started reading books on it, I went to seminars. I started working with my friends, and people I would meet.

Also, I got into it as a child because I had a major stuttering problem. I couldn't put two words together and it embarrassed me. Over the years I worked with myself and through self-hypnosis I overcame the problem.

Sun: Do you remember the first person you hypnotized?

JT: It was a girlfriend of mine. I was just practicing, just working on my craft. I gave her a post-hypnotic command that every time she heard the word "blue" she would fall down. I did this over and over again and every time, she would fall down.

My first paying gig was at Temple University in Philadelphia, for the Student Union.

Sun: Tell me about your act.

JT: First of all, let me say I sold out for five months straight, until school started back (for the fall) and my numbers fell slightly off. But I was turning away 30 to 50 people a day all the time. I was mad. I could not sit them in the room ... I was losing $25,000 a month.

My show is totally audience driven, meaning that if there aren't any people there, it makes it tough. A smaller amount of people are more inhibited and I have to work harder to get them in the mood, but that's what I do.

What I do is, I get willing volunteers on stage and get them into a suggestible state of mind, which they call hypnosis. I get them to do all kinds of funny things they wouldn't normally do in their normal waking state. Everybody can be hypnotized, everyone is suggestible. If not, you couldn't learn.

Every night is really crazy because I never know what is going to happen. People respond differently to different sets of suggestions.

Sun: Your show seems to be popular, but the two venues you perform in aren't very large.

JT: I can do a room that seats 700 or 800, and there are hypnotists who do a room with 2,000 people or more. But I don't want one that size because I'm going to lose the intimacy of my show. I like walking around looking at faces.

Sun: Why aren't you in a bigger room?

JT: The entertainment directors in this town don't know anything about the business. They have no show-business background. I'm not slamming the Flamingo, they have been very good to me. But I just don't understand how I could have a show selling out all the time, with people raving about it, and I can't get the right people (entertainment directors) to come. I keep on hitting this wall over and over again. I know after playing 48 weeks, I deserve a bigger and larger and better room and a better venue.

I hear from people all the time who have seen my show and others in town. They say Siegfried & Roy, Lance Burton, whatever the show, they will tell you my show is the best, it was the high point of everything for them. I hear that every single night.

I'm not saying I'm good, the people are. And I've got the numbers to back it up. I deserve a shot, a bigger venue. I'm trying to find someone willing to take me on.

Sun: You sound bitter.

JT: I feel very blessed for where I am, but I know I can do bigger and better work. It's frustrating. I go to all the other shows in town and these other shows aren't filled up. Their counts are so horrible. And hotels are bringing in Broadway shows -- people don't come here to see a Broadway show, they go to Broadway.

I would say 98 percent of the people who see my show love it, so I must be doing something right.

We have a show that is working. All I am asking for is for someone to give me a shot. When there are shows in casinos not doing well, instead of having the performers do two mediocre shows, let me have one of those time slots, then they can fill up both shows. I know I will sell out. I know I have a niche. I'm not doing magic. Do you know how many magicians are on the Strip? And more of them are coming.