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Magician Steve Wyrick Settles Into Sahara

LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Oct. 6, 2000 For Steve Wyrick it's always been a question of identity.

Such was the case about six months into his 2 1/2-year stint at the Lady Luck, when the magician found himself arguing over his identity.

Wyrick was at the Fashion Show mall and noticed a woman in a ticket booth had a local show guide opened up to the page featuring his production.

So he walked up to the counter to say thanks.

"Hi, I'm Steve Wyrick and I just wanted to thank you for selling tickets to my show," he said.

But the ticket woman wasn't biting. Now engaged in a telephone conversation, she put down the phone long enough to say she didn't believe him.

"I've seen Steve Wyrick's show, and you're not him," she curtly replied.

Wyrick simply laughed at the situation, pulled out his driver license as proof of his identity and pushed it forward for her to see.

"Her mouth dropped and she immediately hung up with whoever she was talking to," he said. "She told me she didn't recognize me."

Wyrick shouldn't have that problem anymore.

Not with his face plastered on billboards all over town and small signs on the sides of buses and taxicabs -- all part of a massive publicity campaign to trumpet Wyrick as the new, big attraction on the Strip.

Billed as a "World Class Magician," Wyrick recently debuted his multimillion- dollar theater at the Sahara, where he performs twice a night, Wednesday through Monday.

With an act almost entirely different from his Lady Luck days, Sahara gig is filled with the kind of grand illusions you'd expect from someone who inked an eight-year deal.

There's the opening sequence where he emerges from a helicopter on stage, the "whirling blades of death," where he's chained to a metal bed and has one minute to escape before being shredded; and the turbine engine bit where he seemingly walks though the working turbine engine of a 747.

"They're the biggest illusions on the Strip, practically," Wyrick said proudly.

They're certainly large enough to cause other magicians to notice.

"I was amazed at the amount of production value he was able to work in that little stage at the Lady Luck. That was a little stage in a tent," Lance Burton, who performs at the Monte Carlo, said. "I'm anxious to see his production in a big-time venue on the Strip."

If it seems going from a small production in a renovated tent to an 860-seat theater is a case of overnight success, that's simply not accurate.

Possessing a Southern drawl offstage that is conspicuously absent on stage, the 30-year-old Texas native said he's paid his dues.

"I'm still paying them," he said, laughing.

After learning that Melinda, the First Lady of Magic had left the Lady Luck in early 1997 (she now stars in her own show at the Venetian), Wyrick met with the casino. He subsequently signed a nine-month pact and took over the small, tent-like theater after $2 million was spent on renovations.

Again it was a slow start, but soon things picked up.

"Something I learned, whenever it's a new show, everyone's really leery about it -- not from the Lady Luck, but in general," he said. "It's tough for them to get behind it unless they're sure you have longevity.

"After seven or eight months, then I think everyone realized the kid's going to be there a long time. The ticket sales picked up overnight."

Eventually others noticed, and the Sahara came courting two years later. Bill Bennett, owner of the Sahara, along with Barr bought out Wyrick's three producers and worked out a deal for the magician at the Sahara that included a theater built from scratch.

Wyrick accepted the deal and had his last performance at the Lady Luck was on Dec. 31 of 1999.

Then he began to focus completely on the construction of his new theater, he said, attending almost every meeting, whether it was here, in New York City, Los Angeles or Chicago.

To complement the aeronautical theme of the show, Wyrick designed the theater to look like an airplane hangar that was abandoned and in disrepair.

The theater was originally to be opened Feb. 15, but that deadline came and went with the show still not ready.

As the months went by, rumors circulated that the magician was being too much of a perfectionist, but that wasn't the case, he said.

"There were many delays in the project," Wyrick said. "The majority were from magic illusions, which had to be custom made and custom fitted into the theater and were being made all over the United States. And just because you have things built, and they all converge onto Las Vegas, doesn't mean everything's working and it's going to fit."

On September 15, however, it all came together to generally favorable reviews.

And on Tuesday Wyrick received the "Magician of the Year" award as voted on by the International Magicians Society. Previous winners include Copperfield and Siegfried & Roy.

A lot seems to be happening to Wyrick at the moment, but he insists he's too busy to take the time to enjoy it all.

"I'm excited about it, but it's a lot of work to do two shows a day, six days a week, keep up with everything else and then focus on where I'm going," he said.

That focus includes maintaining a hands-on policy when it comes to his career: Wyrick approves everything from the photos used in his advertisements to the types of items included in the Steve Wyrick line of magic kits (which are available in the Steve Wyrick Magic Shop next to his theater).

"I wouldn't call it micromanaging," Wyrick said, "but just making sure everything is being done and everything is taken care of in a professional manner."

This was evident on a recent afternoon when Wyrick stopped a casino construction worker to discuss a faulty neon light above the magic shop. After telling the worker the light needed to be replaced, the worker nodded but seemed unsure who he was talking to.

Wyrick realized what was happening, shook his hand and politely introduced himself.

"I'm Steve."

Guess the worker hadn't seen the billboards.

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