Melinda gives it her all at Venetian Showroom

Friday, May 24, 2002 | 9:02 a.m.

"Melinda, First Lady of Magic" is a delightful, family-oriented production at The Venetian Showroom that has been luring audiences for two years -- longer than any other show at the 3-year-old venue.

A magician for more than 15 years, Melinda seems to have maintained her energy and her enthusiasm for performing despite conditions in the showroom that might discourage some less-optimistic entertainers.

There have been times when Melinda has had to cancel shows in the middle of a performance because the stage curtains wouldn't work. She has had to drop several of her signature illusions, such as a disappearing horse and fluttering fireflies: Horses aren't allowed on the premises and the fireflies could not be done for technical reasons.

During a recent performance, however, it was obvious that Melinda loves what she does.

But what she does is not strictly magic: it is seduction. She seduces her audience with her flair for the glamorous and her warmth, good looks, charm and dancing.

Dancing and music accentuate Melinda's magic. Her moves are sometimes sensual and provocative, and always a pleasure to watch.

But magic is her first love.

Melinda makes her appearance onstage each evening by emerging from a transparent glass pyramid.

Although she has had to cut some of her better-known illusions, earlier this week she introduced a clever new one, in which a scarf passes through the center of her body.

Several of Melinda's pieces involve levitation. One of them was on videotape, which she played for the audience. The illusion involved her being placed in a glass box and having her hands tied with a rope. A lock secured a belt around her waist and held her captive inside the container. More than 100 snakes were dropped into the box.

As Melinda freed herself from the ropes and the lock, the snakes slithered over her body until she levitated out of the box and onto the stage.

Several of Melinda's illusions are fairly common: a ball that dances along the edge of a scarf, a scene with a guillotine, a motorcycle that disappears from stage and reappears instantly at the back of the showroom.

One or two of her illusions are obvious, but many of them are impressive. She steps into a large, segmented box, and the box is reduced to the size of a hatbox that is pierced with swords. After the swords are withdrawn the small box expands, and out steps Melinda.

Also impressive was a scene in which Melinda danced with a woman wearing a red cape and cowl covering her face. Melinda "falls asleep," is placed on a board and covered with a blanket, which rises and then disappears. Then the person wearing the cowl and cape pulls off the garb to reveal that she is actually Melinda.

A highlight of the evening was Rejean St. Jules, who took juggling tennis balls to a new dimension. Using partially enclosed cages, he kept balls bouncing off three surfaces in an almost hypnotic rhythm that thrilled the audience.

For the guillotine illusion, Melinda asked for a volunteer from the audience, which was largely composed of tourists from Japan. She was lucky enough to find a man who spoke English well enough to participate in the gag.

She was not, however, as lucky with one of her next illusions.

Melinda tossed a teddy bear into the audience and explained that it should be thrown to three different people -- the third person had to be a man who would be her "dream lover."

But the first person who caught the stuffed animal didn't speak a word of English, and he held the toy. Rather than find another participant, Melinda brought the confused tourist onstage, sat beside him on a sofa and tried to communicate with him in an effort to get him to say a few key words for the illusion.

The bit had the potential of being funny, but it lasted far too long -- especially for the payoff, which was the key words coaxed out of the participant appearing in a paragraph written on a blackboard on the stage behind Melinda.

Apart from that uncomfortable scene, the evening with Melinda was second to none.

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