CARLOS ADRIANO Make ’Em Laugh! Make ’Em Laugh!
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Our Cover CARLOS ADRIANO Make ’em laugh! Make ’em laugh! By Martin Kaplan he house lights dim and the stage when, out of the blue and no clear under- Tlights come up full. The stage curtain standing why, he told his father that he is closed. A backstage voice announces wanted to learn how to do magic. As fate the next performer. “Ladies and gentle- would have it, that very week his father men, please welcome our next performer caught up with a former colleague whom who hails from Rosario, Argentina, Carlos he had not seen in years. His colleague Adriano.” At first nothing happens. Then was no longer teaching. He had become a the audience notices movement at the base magician and coincidently he had a friend of the curtain. The movement travels from who had a magic school. Soon thereafter, left to right and back to center. A pair of Carlos and his friend Adrián, who was also brightly colored sneakers comes into view. interested in magic, began their journey A suitcase is pushed through the bottom of together. the curtain, followed by the performer who Magical resources were few and far makes his way on stage crawling under between in the Rosario of the early nine- the curtain. Carlos straightens up to his ties. The Internet did not exist; the local full height and brushes himself off. While public library only had a handful of books doing so the curtain rises on its own and as dealing with magic and Buenos Aires, the Carlos follows the progress of the curtain true magic hub of Argentina was some his face displays a multiplicity of emotions three hundred kilometers away. The good and the audience bursts into both laughter news is that there was a local magic club, and applause. In the space of two minutes La Peña Mágica Rosarina; the bad news Carlos has established his magic persona was that one had to be eighteen in order for the audience and they instinctively to join. Since Carlos was and is very know that they are in for a fun ride. resourceful, he and Adrián, found a work- Carlos D López Adriano made his around. debut on September 22, 1976, in Rosario, The club opened its doors at 9:00 p.m. Argentina. His father taught at univer- and its library was available for the thirty sity and his mother was a housewife. His minutes prior to the meeting. After a half childhood was normal, uneventful and, up hour of study, Carlos and Adrián would until age eleven, he had never expressed retreat to the nearby bar where the magi- or shown an interest either in stage per- cians would gather after their meeting. The formance or magic. It was at age eleven bar became Carlos’ second school and he 18 www.magician.org The Linking Ring Carlos Adriano. PHOTO BY MAD MARTIN. got to know the locals and the locals got to know him. It was the perfect strat- egy and, as a result, Carlos, at ers. Carlos age fourteen, became the young- said that he was est member ever of the Peña Mágica. not prepared to do Several years later he would become its so, but if the host would invite him back secretary. the following week he would come back Carlos began performing at age fourteen ready to perform an effect over the radio. and, like many of us, it was at a neigh- Carlos returned the following week and bor’s birthday party. As he grew more every other week for more than a year. To experienced, in addition to performing at appreciate the difficulty of coming up with traditional venues such as birthday parties fifty plus effects that could only be done and first communions, he began to reach verbally, imagine your having to do so bigger audiences in theater-like settings. with limited resources to find such effects. It was after one of these performances that Most of the effects came from Carlos’ cre- he was interviewed by a local radio per- ative mind. sonality who then invited him to appear on As a result of his appearances, Carlos his show the following week. In the course had more than enough material for his of that program the host asked him if he first book, La magia invisible (Invisible could do an effect that involved the listen- Magic), which he self published in 1996. June 2019 www.magician.org 19 Carlos Adriano connects with his audience through magic, facial expressions, and physical comedy. If you check the bibliography at the end until the Argentinean economy collapsed of Juan Tamariz’s book, Verbal Magic, in 2001. As a result, the magic shop closed you will see the book mentioned. Tamariz and all professional engagements were writes on page 147, “Verbal magic …is an cancelled. Magic, as a profession, was no unusual type of conjuring, for which only longer a viable source of income. a short bibliography is possible. (Notable Opportunities in Argentina were few exceptions are the books on this subject and far between. It seemed that the only by Fisher, Wade, Maven, Steinmeyer and option was to start all over, but where and López Adriano…)” doing what? Carlos decided that he needed The book was his introduction to the to move and since his father had immi- magicians of Buenos Aires and, as a result, grated to Argentina from Spain, that meant his performance opportunities grew sub- that Carlos was a Spanish citizen and stantially. He took advantage of every would have no problem working in Spain opportunity to expand his knowledge of the moment he arrived. And so, with five the technical and performance aspects of hundred dollars in his pocket and two suit- working on stage, as well as improving his cases, one filled with clothes and the other abilities as a clown, a mime and an impro- with magic he moved to Spain in June of visational actor. If that were not enough, 2002. Landing in Madrid, he discovered with the backing of one of Buenos Aires’s that, since it was summertime, there was magic shop owners, Carlos opened the little or no work for magicians. However, Casa Mágica in Rosario. seaside towns brimming with tourists The magic store did well and perfor- might be the perfect solution. mance opportunities continued to present And so, almost out of funds, Carlos themselves. The future looked very rosy, headed for Benidorm and arrived with 20 www.magician.org The Linking Ring enough money for a night in a hotel. His who had hired them and they pointed out plan was to do street magic the following a nearby house and, as fate would have it, day to earn enough for a meal or two and the young woman who had hired the boys another night in the hotel. However, it was was making her way down the front steps. not to be. Carlos approached her and explained Carlos headed out for the boardwalk his situation. She asked him to stop by looking for a space where he could do Aqualandia the next day and she would his street magic. He sat down to rest for a introduce him to her bosses. moment, leaving his two suitcases at his Carlos was hired, but not as a magician. feet, and noticed a fellow street performer He was, in essence a maintenance man, working a small crowd. Suddenly a police cleaning toilets, sweeping up messes and car drove up and when the two policemen going wherever his services were needed. exited the car, they confiscated the magi- However, he now had a source of income cian’s props, as well as the funds he had and he could once again satisfy his basic collected. One of the policemen spied needs for food and shelter. Carlos and approached him. His message In the course of his initial interview was short, but sweet. If Carlos tried to do Carlos had made it known that he was a street magic, without a permit, he would magician and, if the opportunity presented suffer the same fate. itself, he would love to have the chance Out of funds and out of work, Carlos to perform. A week into his job he was is forced to live on the streets for a week. approached by the Assistant Manager and How much worse could things get? told that she would like him to do table Towards the end of that week, while sitting magic at the park’s biggest restaurant the on a bench, two boys who were handing next day. out flyers for Aqualandia, a water park in A new day dawned and dressed appro- Benidorm, approached him. Carlos asked priately, with his close-up case at the ready, he was about to approach the first table. However, the general manager stopped him in his tracks and asked him what he thought he was doing. Carlos explained that he was in the restaurant at the assis- tant manager’s request. The GM nodded non-committedly and Carlos approached his first table, coins at the ready. Carlos finished his first effect and looked for the GM, but he had disappeared. At the end of lunchtime Carlos learned that he had a new job. He would be the magician for not only Aqualandia, but also its neighboring sister park. In the months that followed Carlos performed in just about every venue, including the street because he was now street legal. With three months of perform- ing under his belt and with the summer season drawing to a close, Carlos decided to head back to Madrid to see what await- ed him there.