Theatre / “Michael Boyd’s Mystique”. At The Playhouse, until September 28. Reviewed by SAMARA PURNELL.

NOT long from touring “Cabaret de Paris” starring Rhonda Burchmore, Michael Boyd is back with his family friendly “Mystique”. 

“Mystique” has a heavy focus on appealing to and delighting the younger audience members, and the dancers in suits with flashing neon glowing in the darkness was a fun way to begin the show and set the tone.

Boyd emerges from a cylinder full of smoke and after setting a cage on fire and working his magic, his sparkly-clad assistant suddenly appears. 

Boyd comes from a line of magicians, falling in love with magic as a boy, inspired by his grandfather’s magic tricks and props. “Mystique” includes many of the more “traditional” magic tricks and routines, such as the interlocking rings and the routines where he utilises a young boy and girl from the audience, Michael and Harriet, with Harriet’s jaw dropping as she appeared to help Boyd make a table hover and rise. They were rewarded with gift packs of magic tricks that Boyd spruiked.

The audience were also selected via beachball to help realise a “dream” Boyd had had. Despite the best intentions to keep an eye on the box hanging from the rafters, the attention ultimately drifts to what is unfolding with the audience, for a fun reveal at the end.

Set to an appealing pop soundtrack that included Britney Spears, The Pussycat Dolls and Christina Aguilera as well as the theme from “Harry Potter” and suitably mysterious music when required, “Mystique” hit the perfect note of energy and engagement with its tasteful lighting and sound design. 

The show was presented in sections inspired by Boyd’s travels. India, the jungle and Japan were featured. Dancers Tegan and Annie performed precise and wonderfully in-sync jazz ballet, up-tempo dance routines, stylised to each theme to introduce an illusion or trick. The tastefully scant costumes were a delight and looked impressively high quality, from cute and sparkly, to glitzy Bollywood, striking headdresses and marching band outfits to the perky showgirl feathers in the finale.

The sword illusion elicited gasps from the audience but close inspection gave a hint of the workings on a couple of the illusions. 

A relatable and funny routine involving instructions from “Siri” as to how to perform a magic trick had parents and kids chuckling.

The highlights of the show involved a delightful routine of levitating and disappearing ballerinas and the final trick of the night saw Boyd perform an escape routine with a reappearance that thrilled and delighted the audience. 

As adults, watching magic presents the dilemma of wanting to work out the tricks and the “hows” of the illusions and not wanting to spoil the wonder and enchantment of being “tricked” and swept up in the deftness of it all.

Boyd’s passion for magic and desire to entertain is clear. He wants to make your worries disappear, if just for a moment. And through the art of distraction, and the illusion of magic, that’s exactly what happens.