What I've tried to do in my stage magic is to take a trick and give it an emotional hook.

In magic, it takes two or three years for me to create a 5-minute illusion for me to get it to the level I want.

The more educated you get, the better shot you have to get it right, but if you're really trying something different, it's a challenge every time.

The audience likes to be taken on new journeys.

No self-respecting gay guy would have ever made some of the hair and clothing choices I am still trying to live down.

I was 16 at the time, and I came backstage and started hanging out with them. I said, "Well, maybe you can 'vanish' the silk this way." The opening was a black stage while the "Magic to Do" song started playing. All you saw were hands, lit by Jules Fisher, and then Ben Vereen would appear beyond the hands, and at the end of the scene he would vanish a silk. The spotlight would hit a red spot on the floor where you'd see the silk on the floor. He'd pull the silk out of the floor and it became the entire set coming out of the floor.

When I was a kid, people wanted to be an astronaut. Today, kids want to be famous, and that's totally the wrong approach. You have to have authenticity in what you're doing. You have to really care about the core message of what you're saying, and then everything else will fall into place.