SceneAroundTown... "Flim Flam: Houdini and the Hearafter" at The Malibu Playhouse

Rick D. Wasserman & Melissa Kite in "Flim Flam: Houdini and the Hearafter" Photo by Brian McCarthy

A great evening of magical theater last night at the Malibu Playouse world premiere of "Flim Flam: Houdini and the Hearafter".  The well written original play by artisitic director Gene Franklin Smith features a stellar cast starring Rick D. Wasserman as the legendary Houdini, Mellisa Kite as his beautiful but put upon wife/assistant Bess Houdini, Peter Van Norden as his colleague and friend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Gigi Bermingham as Lady Jean Conan Doyle, Sabara Malkinson as Mina Crandon and Cameron Mitchell Jr. as Dr. Leroi Crandon.  The play is directed with flair by Thomas James O'Leary and the story takes place in the summer of 1922 where Houdini & Conan Doyle team up to investigate psychic mediums for the Scientific American Committee.  Conan Doyle goes to great lengths to prove that beautiful pychic Mina Crandon & her husband are the real deal in the physic world while the cynical Houdini is out to prove just the oppposite.   Houdini knows every trick in the book but becomes convinced that Crandon is real when she makes contact with his beloved deceased mother revealing intimate details that only she & he would know.  Kudos to the production team on a great show - for more information visit www.malibuplayhouse.com or call 323 960 7711.  It was also fun to see The Magic Castle's Houdini expert Jim Bentley perform magic at intermission & before & after the play.
Report by Harrison Held