The Illusionists' Dom Chambers and Eric Chien Blow Our Minds with Magic

When magician Eric Chien was a sophomore at the University of Hawaii, he would do magic tricks on campus. Then one day, he decided to leave school and go to Vancouver to do street magic and hone his craft. “I didn't tell my parents,” he tells Broadway.com’s Beth Stevens on #LiveAtFive, joined by fellow magician Dom Chambers. You can say it was his most dramatic early magic trick, making his parents believe he was in Hawaii when he was really in Vancouver. “When I first landed in Vancouver, I brought nothing but a deck of cards and $40. I didn't bring clothes; I didn't bring anything. It was really fun,” Chien said.

Chien and Chambers are currently performing on Broadway in The Illusionists—Magic of the Holidays, where they astonish audiences with tricks such as close-up sleight of hand and breathtaking tricks with beer. They met on NBC’s America’s Got Talent, where they were contestants on season 14 (they both made it to the semifinals). But both men learned magic tricks at a young age. Chambers, who is Australian, learned it from his grandfather at the age of five. “My granddad wanted to connect with his grandkids. He learnt magic, so he could teach us magic, and I'm very lucky he did, because that's what set me on my path.” Chambers' after-school job in high school was doing magic tricks at kids’ birthday parties. 

Meanwhile, Chien didn’t learn magic tricks until he was in high school, where a friend would show him a card trick every day. “He taught me this really simple, simple trick, and I learned it in five minutes, and I showed it to my other friends, and the reactions I got were amazing, and I just fell in love with magic ever since.” He has now become, in his buddy Chambers’ words, “the world champion of close-up magic. The best in the world.”

The two have spent a lot of time together in the last year. And while in The Illusionists, they’ve also got to spend time with their magical heroes. “Kevin James, who is one of the founders of The Illusionists, and one of the great inventors in magic, I've looked up to him since I was a little kid," Chambers said. "I've watched him doing the routines that he is doing in this show, when I was a little five year old doing magic—doing these shows, doing these acts. And I'm now in a show with him doing that act. It's crazy.”

Don’t think it’s the same show every night: Chien admits he likes to change up the tricks to keep it interesting for himself, and to generate new material for his post-Broadway projects. “During my break times, I would just keep thinking of new ideas,” he said. 

Adds a very animated Chambers, “Eric does the final routine in the show, we all get to watch this routine. All the performers come back and we get to watch. It's the big finish. And Eric will constantly be adding in little surprises and twists for us. We're all watching it on the screen, we go, ‘Oh, what, that's new.’ And we all ask him and he'll say ,’Oh yeah, I just made that up five minutes ago.' That's just what Eric does. [He’s] constantly coming up with new things, it’s amazing, it’s mindblowing.”

The artists promise that true to its title, The Illusionists features holiday-themed tricks, and there is something for everyone. “The thing about The Illusionists [is] there's something in there for all ages, doesn't matter who you are, there's something in there for you in the show,” said Chambers.

“For me, magic is a way to communicate with people," Chien added. "It's language that everyone will understand.”

The Illusionists—Magic of the Holidays runs until January 5.

Chambers also does a magic trick on #LiveAtFive that leaves us astonished. Click on the video below to watch!