HOUSTON — When Champions of Magic arrives at The Hobby Center in Houston next week, it's delivering "grand-scale magic," according to Richard Young.
"We've got dangerous escapes, loads and loads of pyrotechnics, confetti, 160 moving lights," he added.
The show, which has been touring through arenas and 2,000-seat Broadway houses, will be performed in Hobby Center's Zilkha Hall from Feb. 2-17.
"(It's) going to look absolutely spectacular. The seat furthest away really isn't that far away, so everything's going to look absolutely enormous," said Young. "I don't think the show ever looked better than it's going to the next couple of weeks."
He, along with Sam Strange, makes up the act Young & Strange. The pair met as kids and have been doing magic together for nearly 15 years. Now they're one of the most unique illusion acts in the world.
"It's very hard in this this cynical age that we live in, where you're surrounded by what is essentially magic all the time. The technology of your phone is incredible enough. To try and compete with that on a stage is difficult," said Strange. "But I think the show really does really does get there because of the production, because of the pace of it with five different magicians."
In addition to Young & Strange, The Champions Of Magic performances include "interactive magic, a daring escape from Houdini’s water torture cell, a mind-blowing prediction that has to be seen to be believed, levitation high above the stage and a finale beyond explanation."
"One of the biggest compliments is you'll find is that people who see it in the first week sometimes come back towards the end and bring friends and family with them," Young said. "That's really special and it's only theater that can do that -- really get people excited so they want to drag people along to see it."
(Watch digital anchor Brandi Smith's full conversation with Young & Strange -- including a magic trick -- in the video above.)