Jay Conjures Time for His Love of Stage

Before the days of video games and monster electronic toys, many youngsters found a magic set under the Christmas tree. They were suddenly privy to the secrets of legerdemain and quickly learned how to fool their friends.

For most it was a passing fancy, but not for Ricky Jay, whose “Ricky Jay & His 52 Assistants,” an evening of close-up magic, will be astounding audiences at the Irvine Barclay Theatre tonight through Jan. 9.

Jay’s grandfather was a magician. Growing up in Brooklyn, Jay was surrounded by his grandfather’s friends, some of the most prominent magicians in the country. At age 4, he was amazed with their tricks, and he in turn tried to amaze them.

“I’m not claiming any precocity or anything,” Jay says. “I’m sure I was a dreadful 4-year-old. But fortunately I did have the influence of those tremendous sleight-of-hand artists that I was able to see at a very early age.

“I grew up around these guys. It was great fun. It just seemed the most natural thing to me. I had people who lived in the world of magic coming over to the house on a regular basis.”

Jay’s field is a sub-genre of magic that deals in close-up illusions, particularly with a deck of cards, his “52 assistants.”

When the production opened in New York a few years ago, Jay received excellent reviews. Most critics commented on the ontrast that, in a town inundated with mammoth productions, he was selling out every night, just a guy with a deck of cards.

Oh, what he can do with those cards. Jay can shuffle a deck, then deal perfect poker hands from it. He can slice and sever objects with a quick toss of a card. He can name a card, throw the deck in the air, and catch one falling card, of course the one he named.

Although performing is his first love--he appeared on television when he was 7--he’s also a writer, having penned a few books, one of which has just been republished.

“Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women” is a history of eccentric entertainment.

“I’ve done pieces on flea circuses and carnival crucifixions,” he explains about his quarterly review, “Jay’s Journal of Anomalies.”

And he’s used his unusual expertise to act as guest curator; he currently has a show at Harvard University in the Harvard Theatre Collection, on magic and illusion from 1800 to 1900.

Jay’s research projects led to the formation of Deceptive Practices, a consulting firm for stage and film on confidence games, gambling, magic illusions and such.

He has worked on films such as “Forrest Gump” and “Sneakers,” and on stage productions, notably the Broadway staging of “Angels in America: Perestroika.”

Jay’s work in theater led, indirectly, to a burgeoning acting career. More than a dozen years ago, Jay was hired to stage magic in Joseph Papp’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” He got along well with director James Lapine and was asked to appear in the production.

Later, Jay met renowned lighting designer Jules Fisher. Fisher, who lit the off-Broadway production of Jay’s current show and designed the staging for his Irvine show, took filmmaker-playwright David Mamet to see Jay work.

(Fisher dreams of establishing a variety theater in New York with Mike Nichols, Mamet and Jay.)

“We hit it off instantaneously,” Jay says about his meeting with the playwright. “I haven’t had a feeling like that since college, meeting someone and having this almost instant sense that you’ve been friends for 10 years or longer. I think it was our frames of reference, things we both find appealing. Con games, and carnivals, and sleight of hand, and the richness of language.”

Jay and Mamet have worked together frequently. Mamet has directed Jay’s stage show, and Jay has appeared in numerous Mamet films, from “House of Games” to the recent “The Spanish Prisoner.”

It’s a busy life, Jay says. He’s acting in a film now and has another coming up in February. He’ll present his stage show in St. Louis in March and at the Spoleto Festival in South Carolina in May.

“It’s fortunately a very, very busy time,” Jay admits, “and I love that. But I always keep going back to this theater show, which is my first love. You have to have these passions, this therapy.”

* “Ricky Jay & His 52 Assistants,” Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive. Tuesdays-Saturdays (except New Year’s Day), 8 p.m. Ends Jan. 9. (949) 854-4646. SOLD OUT.