Romany, the Diva of Magic is a magician. [1] She was featured on the cover of The Linking Ring magazine in August 2007. [2] She was mentored by magician and teacher Jeff McBride, [1] who was quoted as calling Romany "a British Bette Midler." [1]
Romany was born in London. Her parents encouraged her ambitions to be a performer by sending her to elocution, dance, and stage lessons. She went on to earn a BA Hons in English and Italian Literature. [3] When she was 22, her family on her request changed her name to Romany. [3]
After university, Romany was chosen as a graduate management fast track manager by BT. [3] After four years in the office, she decided to change career. She studied magic and circus skills and performed on the street as the Cobble Comedy Company with German street performer Martin Kammann. After studying magic with Jeff McBride in Las Vegas she became a member of The Magic Circle. [3] Romany has gone on to win awards such as the Magic Circle Stage Magician of the Year award, the Siegfried & Roy Gold Lion Award in Las Vegas, and the IBM Stage Magician of the Year. She is the first British person to win the Gold Lion Award. [3] Time Out Magazine described her as "...a flamboyant hybrid of Bette Midler and Mary Poppins." She was chosen to perform for Queen Elizabeth II and her family at the queen's 80th birthday celebration. Romany now headlines with her own theatre show on luxury cruise ships and is in demand as a flamboyant 'Mistress of Ceremonies' around the world for large scale celebrations and events. She performed at the Pink Ball in Dubai for 1000 guests in 2013 and the famous Blackpool Tower Ballroom in 2011 and 2012. In 2011, Romany appeared in the TV show Penn & Teller: Fool Us , where she performed a classic rope escape trick with assistance from host Jonathan Ross. [3]
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received numerous accolades, including four Golden Globe Awards, three Grammy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards and a Kennedy Center Honor, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and a British Academy Film Award.
William Lance Burton is an American stage magician. He performed more than 15,000 shows in Las Vegas for over 5,000,000 people until retiring after 31 years in 2010.
Jeff McBride, also known as "Magnus", is an American magician and magic instructor. He is known for his sleight of hand skills and specializes in the manipulation of playing cards, coins, and other small objects. His stage performances blend elements of kabuki, a Japanese theater form, with traditional conjuring. He has been recognized by the Academy of Magical Arts, the Society of American Magicians, and the International Federation of Magic Societies. He has also has set several Guinness World Records.
Paul Kieve is an English professional illusionist and whose consulting work for both stage and screen has contributed to changing how magical special effects in productions are approached. He is the only illusionist ever to have won a New York Drama Desk award. He created the illusions for the 2014 Kate Bush concert Before the Dawn.
Paul Draper is an anthropologist, academic, and an award-winning mentalist, magician, and film maker. As an anthropologist and communications expert specializing in the cognitive science of religious beliefs, he has lectured at Fortune 500 companies and universities. As the creator of the show Mental Mysteries, Draper blends his academic background as an anthropologist and communications expert with the arts of mentalism and magic. Draper has been described as a pioneer in the field of live online magic shows, regularly performing live streaming shows during the COVID-19 pandemic with viewing audiences of thousands of people.
A magic convention is a gathering of professional magicians, magical hobbyists, dealers, collectors of magical apparatus, books and ephemera, and other students of the art of magic. It provides a place for lectures of subjects related to the craft, as well as a series of sample performances of noted or innovative techniques. Many conventions also hold competitions to judge who excels at a particular style, and present awards in various categories such as sleight of hand, card tricks, mentalism, and stage illusions. The largest magic convention is The Blackpool Magician's Convention which is attended by over 3,500 magicians.
Lee Asher is a close-up magician noted for originating new card tricks and hypnotic sleight of hand moves. He is considered an expert in playing cards, and as a collector is especially known for his work with 52 Plus Joker, the American Playing Card Collectors Club, of which he is the serving President. He has served as a magic consultant for professional magicians such as Greg Frewin.
Cyril Takayama is an American magician of French, Moroccan and Japanese descent who is perhaps best known for his magic performances around Japan.
Daniel Sylvester Battagline, also known as Sylvester The Jester, is an American magician, best known for playing a cartoon character who comes to life. He has had hundreds of stage and television appearances, including NBC’s "World's Wildest Magic," ABC’s "Champions of Magic III", Jerry Lewis's Muscular Dystrophy Telethon and The Discovery Channel’s "More Science of Magic." He has performed in multiple Las Vegas shows including opening for The Amazing Johnathan, and appearing at Caesar’s Magical Empire. He also produces a series of magic products, and has been credited with creating the illustrations for various magic publications, such as the cover for The Amazing Johnathan's Every Trick in the Book, and the poster for John Carney's "Mr. Mysto" act. In 1996, he also created a prop for the television show, "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch." He has been featured on the cover of several magic and culture-related magazines, such as the September 1998 issue of Magic.
Melinda Saxe is a magician from Las Vegas, Nevada. She is best known for her television performances and Las Vegas stage shows in which she was billed as "the First Lady of Magic". She often is associated with the Drill of Death illusion, a signature trick developed for her by André Kole.
Joanie Spina was an American dancer, choreographer, magician and director who achieved prominence through her work with the illusionist David Copperfield.
Diva Las Vegas was a show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas starring Bette Midler performing as singer and comedian. The one-time performance was filmed for television; HBO released it as a TV special originally broadcast on January 18, 1997 and repeated on February 2, 1997. Midler won the 1997 Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program for the special.
Ariann Black is a magician based in Las Vegas, Nevada. She has headlined her own show in Vegas and appeared on a number of national and international television shows. She is known in the magic world for her efforts to encourage and promote other female performers. She was voted Female Magician of the Year in 2004 and International Female Magician of the Year in 2008 & 2009. most recently Ariann was awarded "Magician of the Year" by the International Conclave of Illusionists.
Morgan Strebler is an American psychological illusionist, actor, director, writer and producer. Strebler started practicing magic at the age of seven after seeing a live Harry Blackstone Jr. performance. As an adult, Strebler started his acting career and moved to Las Vegas where he started construction on his multimillion-dollar illusion show. Some of his earliest acting roles inculcated Sesame Street and at 17 he was on the Young and the Restless and Guiding Light.
John van der Put is a magician and comedian from the United Kingdom who performs under the stage name Piff the Magic Dragon. A winner of multiple awards from British magic societies, he toured as a supporting act for Mumford and Sons and has appeared on Penn & Teller: Fool Us and America's Got Talent. In June 2019, van der Put was named one of Variety's 10 Comics to Watch for 2019. Van der Put lives in Las Vegas and has a residency at The Flamingo.
John Nicholls Booth was an American professional magician and prolific author on the history of magic performance. He was recognized for his work, and is also known for having the longest running membership in the International Brotherhood of Magicians.
Mat Franco is an American magician best known for his personality driven, skill-based sleight of hand magic. He gained fame as the first magician to win America's Got Talent, in the show’s ninth season. Franco went on to produce and star in his own primetime TV specials on NBC, Mat Franco’s Got Magic. In 2015 he created and debuted his live stage show in Las Vegas, Mat Franco - Magic Reinvented Nightly, and he is currently headlining at The LINQ Hotel + Experience at the Mat Franco Theater. In addition to winning "Best Magic Show" at the Best of Vegas Awards, Franco's live production was the top-rated magic show in Las Vegas according to Billboard.com in 2021. Mat Franco - Magic Reinvented Nightly was awarded Best Show on the Las Vegas Strip again in 2022.
Bonnie Sue Fishman, known professionally as Bonnie Bruckheimer, is an American film and television producer. She has also been known professionally as Bonnie Fishman, Bonnie Martell, and Bonnie Bruckheimer-Martell. She has been nominated for 2 Emmy Awards. In 1985, she and Bette Midler formed their own production company, All Girl Productions, and were producing partners until 2002.
Anastasia Synn is a Canadian sideshow stunt performer and magician, as well as a transhumanist and biohacker. She is known for her cyborg rights activism. She was married to magician and comedian The Amazing Johnathan, whom she also managed, until his death on February 22, 2022.
Bruce Cervon was an American magician who was best known for his close-up magic, both through performance and invention. He published a series of books and helped to create a permanent record of the magic of Dai Vernon through The Vernon Chronicles, Dai Vernon's Ultimate Secrets of Card Magic, and Bruce Cervon's Castle Notebooks.