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[0:00] Robert Bannon: This is Robert Bannon, and before I hit the theme song and introduce the show, I want to tell you about some exciting Roundtable news. The Roundtable has a brand new website. You can go to robertbannon.com, find out all about me, find out all about the show. Brand new and now up and running with brand new Roundtable merchandise. Go to robertbannon.com, follow me on Instagram, and make sure you're subscribing to us wherever you listen to podcasts or on YouTube. Now let's do a show. Are you ready? It's The Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon.

[0:33] Robert Bannon: Well, welcome to The Roundtable, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon, and you're listening to us on Broadway World, the Broadway Podcast Network, iHeart, Spotify, wherever artists are here talking about art. I'm a magician, magic super fan. I love magic more than anything. As a kid, I even went to clown school. I did. I didn't get good at it, but I did go. You know, I can make a coloring book appear with the colors and all the famous tricks. Our next guest has been wowing people. He is a superstar in the world of magic. He's award-winning. He's won some of the biggest awards from card tricks to sleight of hand to up-close magic. He's worked with incredible giant movie stars and been hired to work on tons of projects, and he's bringing his very personal show right to New York City at New York's beautiful city center, and you can get a ticket and see it. Hope Theory's coming, and you need to be there. Helder, welcome to the show.

[1:21] Helder Guimarães: Thank you so much, Robert. I was scared to say your full name. Can you pronounce it as beautifully as it should be pronounced?

[1:26] Robert Bannon: Helder Guimarães.

[1:26] Helder Guimarães: Helder Guimarães. I could have really got that. I could have got it. It's not hard. It scares you when you see it, but it's actually not that hard. See, getting me to pronounce names right is true magic, because I don't want to butcher anyone's name. Congratulations. Welcome to the show. Sounds gorgeous.

[1:42] Helder Guimarães: Thank you so much. Four years old, I read that you started looking into and wanting to be a magician. How did someone in Portugal, where you're from, grow up and discover magic?

[2:01] Helder Guimarães: I started in probably one of the most direct, accessible ways of doing it, which is my father did magic as a hobby, and so that's how I kind of started to do magic. I used to see him do these amazing things, and I kind of wanted to do them myself. It got to this Christmas party in my kindergarten, and my father said, you want to do something for your classmates. He taught me three very easy, simple magic routines, and that's what I did. One of the highlights of my performance in the kindergarten when I was four, I had this box that I would show empty. I would close the box, make these magical gestures, open the box, and the box was filled with candies. I started to throw candies to my classmates, and so for a while I was really the most popular kid in kindergarten, because I could make candies appear.

That was a very powerful moment, and I started with that, which probably is the top. You can't go above producing candies for four years old. It's probably one of the biggest achievements you can do to that age group. I started like that as something that I would do occasionally, and when I was around 12, that's when it became a little bit more serious of me really understanding, okay, I really want to pursue this seriously, starting to study sleight of hand with cards, and really dreaming about becoming a professional magician.

[3:48] Robert Bannon: See, it's amazing to me, because it's one thing to do a party trick, and it's one thing to have a trick up your sleeve, and then it's another thing to have the courage to make it a career. It's another thing to say, I'm going to make an act, I'm going to make a living, I'm going to pay my bills, I'm going to give it my all. Was it scary at certain points? Were you unsure if you were going to make it, if you were going to be able to continue doing this, or was this all you ever wanted to do?

[4:15] Helder Guimarães: Yeah, I think in a way, as a serious pursuit, it was the only thing I've ever wanted to do. I never wanted to do anything else as serious as I've ever wanted to do magic. I wouldn't say I was scary, because I think I was very naive with 12, wanting to be a magician. I don't think you know what the world is, what life is. And in a way, that's a blessing, because you just keep going, and you just believe, and you have this inherent quality of dreaming that keeps you going. Even in my show, the show is called The Hope Theory, I talk a little bit about this idea of belief, and how that sometimes carries you through times that are a little bit uncertain. But at the time, I didn't even think about the uncertainty of being a professional magician, or a performer, or being on stage.

I just wanted to do it so much that I kept pursuing this idea. And I've always had this very big notion that if you are really good at something, eventually things end up falling in your plate. And so for me, it was always about, I really want to try to be the best I can be at what I do. And I just kept pursuing that. And as you mentioned, from Portugal, it's not a country that has a lot of magic tradition. One of the ways I saw my career being possible was to be a winner at this thing that we call the World Championship of Magic. And so in 2006, I competed, I was only 23, I competed at the World Championship of Magic in the category of card magic, which is my specialty. And I won. And I think that was a big, in a way, a big surprise, because I wasn't expecting to win, I was expecting to do well, I was expecting people to start recognizing me, but I wasn't necessarily like, I didn't enter, I was like, oh, I'm definitely going to win.

I knew I was going to make an impact. I knew that my work had quality, I knew that, but I was not sure if I would win. And from that moment on, so long story short, during the few years before that, I actually went to theater school, because I always felt that theater as a performing craft was a lot aligned to the things I wanted to do with magic. So I studied theater. The year I finished my theater degree, I won the World Championship of Card Magic. So it was this kind of like magical combination. And from that moment on, I started to have requests to do shows, to be traveling the world, and it was very magical. So yeah, that's kind of how I set myself in a way of, if I'm going to be a professional magician, I think if I won the World Championship of Magic, that is going to definitely help me achieve that. And after that, like everyone, we have ups and downs, we have moments where we have more work, less work, but I've never been in a situation where I doubted that I can do a career out of this.

[7:26] Robert Bannon: Which is incredible. It's such an incredible story, and the story you tell in this show, you know, 29 years old, you come to the United States, you tell your story about coming here. And I'm assuming we're going to see lots of magic, I'm assuming we're going to see some card tricks. Before I ask you this question, there's still card tricks to be invented? There's still creative ways to do a card trick?

[7:52] Helder Guimarães: Always. It's like playing the piano. There's always new songs to come out of a piano. It's the same thing. Those eight notes can be made into millions and millions of different melodies, and the same with those 52 cards.

[8:01] Robert Bannon: Exactly. Okay, so we're going to see some stuff in this show that maybe we've never seen before, you've never seen. I can guarantee you that you're going to see magic, not only card magic, other sorts of effects in this show that you've never seen before.

[8:21] Robert Bannon: I'm sold. Where's my credit card? Somebody get me my credit card. So your story, how did you come up with the show to tell the story about you coming to the United States? What is the show about? What is the story?

[8:32] Helder Guimarães: So it's literally the experience of landing in America at 29 and being an immigrant, being a foreigner, with all the things that I was carrying with me. So I already had a magical career. I already had this profession I was going to now fully develop in the United States, a completely new territory, market, country, culture, all that. And at the same time, you know, leaving my parents, my friends, you know, like everyone back in Porto, where I'm from, and it's an adjustment period. And you learn a lot about yourself, about the culture, you face things that you've never thought you're going to face, sometimes from people that you believe are even close to you, and they say things and you just don't know very well how to position yourself.

So there is a lot of little nuggets. I'm not going to tell a lot so that when people have the show, they kind of experience it with a blank canvas. But there is definitely this idea of seeing someone wanting to belong to a new place and finding difficulties in that process that sometimes are very funny, you know, like certain of the aspects of being an immigrant become like comedy with distance, right? And some of them are a little bit more sensible. And I think there is a part of the show that touches people on an emotional level because of that, because in one way or another, we all at some point in our lives, we feel like an outsider. And I think that that feeling of feeling an outsider is very, very well represented.

[10:19] Robert Bannon: Yeah, it's a time that needs to see this show because there's a lot of rhetoric and conversation in the United States and the world about what does it mean to be an immigrant and what does it mean to be an American. And we all live here and we all are part of this culture and country and we need to explain that and explore. We all come from somewhere. So I'm happy you're here and I'm so excited that the show is here as well. What a beautiful theater. Look, there's not a bad seat in the house as you see the seats behind you. No matter where you sit, you're going to see an up-close-and-personal experience that you've never experienced before. Tell me about your – you didn't find a slouch of a director, by the way.

[10:55] Helder Guimarães: Sorry.

[10:57] Robert Bannon: No, you're good. Welcome. Come to work. Welcome. We've got a show tonight. Well, come on in. You didn't find – you found quite the fancy director for this piece. How did you and Frank get together?

[11:08] Helder Guimarães: So we worked together at this point for four different productions, two of them in live theaters and two of them in virtual during the COVID era, the famous COVID era. And the way we got together is like a friend of ours, like long story short, a friend of ours introduced us because he knew that Frank loved magic and he was like now delving into this live performance aspect of things that when he started, he started with live shows and live theater and then he went into movies and now he was coming back to be again part of this live entertainment side. And I was developing a show at the time for the Geffen Playhouse called Invisible Tango and I wanted someone to help me craft the narrative of the show.

And he basically said like, oh, I know the perfect person. I'll introduce you. And it's funny because we are very different generations, very different backgrounds, but our love for magic, our love for storytelling came together and we found like really joy of working together and we've been working together in different projects ever since.

[12:24] Helder Guimarães: If you don't know Frank Marshall, I mean, he is Hollywood royalty. He's an EGOT. He's created, you know, him and Steven Spielberg have created some of the biggest movies in history. Talk about magic. Cinematic magic has been something he has done and it must be incredible for you, I guess, that people like him and people like who have hired you to work on movies and you've done a lot of movie sets. I mean, if you could teach Cate Blanchett and Sandra Bullock how to do magic, then I think you're the guy. I mean, what's it like how it's expanded and people have called you to help them with their projects?

[13:00] Helder Guimarães: Yeah, look, for me, I see what I do as, in a way, a knowledge, a very specific sort of knowledge and what I've been developing, which I think it's very unique to my own background. I've always loved this idea of how magic integrates with story, how story can be enhanced with a magic moment, right? And so it's not like, oh, I can do magic. Yes, I can do and I think a lot of people can do. It's like, OK, I can do magic at a very high level. OK, I've achieved that as well. But then there is this quality about can I understand magic that not only I deliver the wow effect of an illusion, but how can I do that while we are telling a story, while we are crafting a narrative? And so a lot of times the reason why people want to work with me is because they know I can deliver not only the magic at this very excellent level, but because they understand I can craft the magic towards the narrative that they are interested in.

[14:12] Helder Guimarães: And so that's what makes, I think, very interesting, the people that come in my direction to do it. And it goes from live shows where they need the magic consultant to create one very simple illusion in the middle of a theatrical show or shows where there are more complex things, where the illusions even don't work as illusions, but they work almost as special effects during the show. And you just want people to go like, whoa, what is this? To teach people like, as you mentioned, Sandra and Kate in the movie was less about magic and it was more about sleight of hand and how you can fool someone by doing something like pickpocket. And so there is a lot of things that magic is connected to that when you work with the storylines that they are brought to you.

And that's why I love to consult on different projects that are magic related, but not necessarily like magic centric, right? Which is like sometimes just one scene, but it's the idea that people come to you with this vision of what they want. And now from everything that I've done in my life or I've read or I've learned and all the knowledge I've accumulated, I can now go like, what if we do this? And at the end of the day, it's their project. I don't have to make the final decision, but I can see it from a different angle than they can because I bring new knowledge to the table.

[15:36] Helder Guimarães: And I love to do that. It's really exciting because in my shows, I'm bringing to the table my own vision. But in these projects, what I'm doing is I'm helping someone else's vision come to life in a better way.

[15:50] Robert Bannon: I like I love, love all of this. I love the show. I love people to get a ticket. I love people to go see it, see it up close and personal. The fact that you can teach someone how to do pickpocketing means I'm going to take you to Italy with me so nobody steals my money. Is there an age? Is it for families? Am I bringing a date? Am I bringing my mom? What is this perfect for? It runs through the holidays. People are coming to New York for Thanksgiving. Is this something we could all kind of go and do together?

[16:23] Helder Guimarães: I would say that because of the theme and the narrative and the way it's crafted, I would not recommend it for young children. Definitely do 12 up. And think that if your kid doesn't want to come, don't force it. The first thing you can do to someone is come to the show. Oh, I really don't want to be because people don't want to come to the show, don't come to the show. But if they are open-minded, if they are into magic, if they are like illusions, yes, after 12, I think it's appropriate age to bring people. Definitely a great date night. We've had a lot of people coming for date night. We're running through December, so yes, holiday season, definitely bring people and come to see the show. And I think there is something very interesting because it's not Christmas-themed or any of that, but there is an hopeful message that the show brings to the table that I think in a way it's very connected to the season of the year of holidays.

[17:30] Robert Bannon: I think so too. Look, we've all seen the Rockettes, okay? We've all seen, we've all done it. You need something new and original. When people get together, when you're looking for that unique date, when you're looking to impress your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, when you're looking for something to give to somebody that's new and unique, they're never going to have seen anything like this show. And they'll leave and go into 2027 feeling hopeful and that magic exists. I think your story is magic. I think the fact that you've risen to be a superstar in the world of magic is hard work, and there's a magic to that. And I think we all can be inspired. We may not go home and be able to do a trick, but we can be inspired by the magic that you show us. And that's what's so beautiful about the show. Magic, it's real in a way. It may not be real like a rabbit can come out of a hat, but it is real in life. How do you describe it?

[18:22] Helder Guimarães: I do believe that magic is real. And not in this particular show, but I've done shows where I've expressed that feeling that magic is not real when you think about the routines themselves. Of course there is a secret. Of course I'm using logic and science and psychology to create these things. No doubt about that. I don't want to pretend I have superpowers. I don't. But it's magic in the way that it can transport you to a different reality. It can bring emotions out of you that are very hard to take out of someone else with a different art form. And they can make you believe that tomorrow is going to be better than today. And that alone for me makes magic real as something that we can use to make this world a better place. I'm not hearing you, Robert. I'm sorry.

[19:41] Robert Bannon: It's 90 minutes. No intermission. Wednesday through Sunday. You get a seat. You sit down. It's intimate. 150 seats. Every seat is a good seat. Tickets start at less than $100. You can't see a show. It's not only going to be magic. It's going to be storytelling. It's going to be a theatrical experience. It's going to be something that – and this is what he does. It's intimate, up close, in your face magic. That is what he's known for around the world. You're going to see it up close and personal with close friends and 150 of your neighbors, and it's going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I'm so happy you brought it to New York, and I'm so grateful you spent some time with me.

[20:15] Helder Guimarães: My pleasure, Robert. Thank you so much for the interview.

[20:18] Robert Bannon: Thank you for being here, and I can't wait to be in the house and see the show. Congratulations.

[20:22] Helder Guimarães: Thank you.