Newcomer Brings Magic To Town

By Nancy K. Crevier

Pulling a bright green top from deep in his pocket, Ken Sprano deftly wraps a string around and around the stem of the toy, then sends it shooting across the room, up the string, and back into his hand. Then he digs a little deeper into his pocket and out come three coins. “Watch closely. Pay attention,” he warns. The coins regroup in his tightly closed fists, first one, then two, then three. It is magic.

He cannot make your troubles disappear, but “Fascination Specialist” Ken Sprano can take your mind off of them, with an array of magical tricks, tops, and toys.

A magician by trade for more than 30 years, Mr Sprano and his family recently moved to Sandy Hook from the Waterbury area. But his talents have taken him worldwide, performing in Europe, South America, and doing 350-plus magic shows in Japan, for corporate and private parties.

He can make objects disappear, make a yo-yo dance, and juggle machetes. His skills also include currency folding, devil sticks, diabolo “cup” juggling, origami paper folding, the shell & pea game, and brainteasers from around the world.

Mr Sprano was in his 20s and working in construction when he attended a party at which there was a magician. “I thought that was the coolest thing, and decided I wanted to learn to do magic,” he recalled. He contacted that magician, who got him started, then discovered a magic store in New York City.

“I was so excited by everything there, that I would have spent every cent I had and more on the tricks,” he said. Fortunately, the shopkeeper steered him away, admonishing him to practice, practice, practice with the purchases he had before investing in more.

One of the earliest of the thousands of tricks Mr Sprano has taught himself since was the dice box trick. “There are dice in the box. You can hear them sliding back and forth. But when I open the doors on the box, there is nothing there.” Card tricks, always a favorite with magicians, said Mr Sprano, were also swiftly added to his early repertoire.

As a member of the Society of American Magicians, Mr Sprano picked up more tricks of the trade, and at the Midway School of Players in Milford, he gained the confidence to play to an audience. “My first show was as a clown, at a YWCA event. I made $50,” he said.

He spent a year in San Diego as a street performer, an experience that he said caused him to grow more as a magician than any other period in his life. “Being a street performer is a tough sell. You quickly find out what does and doesn’t work,” he said.

Returning to the East Coast, Mr Sprano connected with a Wallingford company that got him into corporate work, performing at company picnics and holiday events. “I love performing at corporate events,” he said, “and at trade shows. There are thousands of people there, who kind of wander around in a daze. Then they see a magician and it’s like a mental break for them.”

He has pulled the wool over the eyes of audiences at a Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, Rockefeller Plaza, and at Disney Special Events. A self-taught juggler (“I started out juggling lemons from our lemon tree in California. Now I juggle torches, machetes, bowling balls, or whatever,” he said), Mr Sprano has taught dozens of classes for International Juggling Association conventions, and has taught the art of paper folding, origami, at the Museum of Natural History in New York City and at international origami conventions.

Wherever he goes, he is always on the lookout for magic shops and other magicians, eager to add to his broad range of tricks. It was from a fellow performer in Japan that he learned to master the yo-yo, and from there, moved on to the magic of spinning tops.

Performing for foreign audiences can be as tricky as any trick he does. “There are the language barriers. But I like the challenge of nonverbal communication. It keeps you on your toes,” Mr Sprano said.

“I love magic, I love card tricks, tops, and the shell & pea game. No matter how carefully people think they are watching, they can’t follow the shell & pea game. I love the looks on people’s faces. The old-fashioned gambling games really draw an audience, too. I like to mix things up when I perform,” said Mr Sprano, adding that the appeal of a show depends on the crowd or individual. “It’s called ‘misdirecting,’” said Mr Sprano of the art of illusion. “Fifty percent of how a show goes over is the performer, but 50 percent is the audience. I think I have something for everyone, though,” he said.

The interaction with people is the magic of the job for Mr Sprano, and an audience that is willing to let go and simply believe, is the best. “Magic lies in the question, not in the answer. The answer destroys the magic,” he said. “What I do is just fun. I do fun for a living,” he said.

Mr Sprano is available for corporate or private events, for audiences of all ages. To contact him, visit www.illusionaryarts.com or call 203-982-8186.