Magic Rocks! And so does illusionist Leon Etienne.
At 3 p.m. Sunday in the Amphitheater, Etienne will present a mind-blowing magic show that every family member can enjoy as part of his Magic Rocks! tour.
Whether he is in front of Jimmy Fallon or Howard Stern, Etienne leaves audience members mesmerized by his sleight of hand. The International Brotherhood of Magicians in Utica, New York, his hometown, had dubbed him the Magician of the Year. He has appeared on “Masters of Illusions,” and at age 29, he appeared on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” alongside Romy Low, a ballerina and gymnast, but his journey with magic hardly began there.
At age 12, while being grounded, he decided to open up a magic book his grandparents had gifted him.
“When I learned (my first trick), I wanted to show it to someone, obviously,” he said in an interview with Niagara Frontier Publication. “So, I left my room, and the first thing my mom said to me was, ‘What are you doing out of your room?’ And ‘You’re grounded. Get back in there.’ I said, ‘Mom, hold on a second. I just want to show you this thing.’ And I did a card trick for her — my first card trick — and I literally watched her mind melt.”
Even though Etienne started his magic journey at 12, he still has to practice certain tricks before they’re audience-ready.
In his interview with Niagara Frontier Publications, he discussed a card trick in which he pulls cards out of nowhere and then they shoot out of his mouth.
“That routine took me a solid year and a half just to be able to present it, and that’s all pure sleight of hand. So, a year and a half before it ever went in front of an audience,” he said. “And now I’ve been doing it for years and years and years.”
