Gabriella Lester Has a Few Tricks Up Her Sleeve in Broadway’s Now You See Me Live

At just 22 years old, magician and escapologist Gabriella Lester has already built a career around defying expectations. Born in South Africa, she moved to Canada at age four, where she grew up doing musical theater. Though she claims she has "no musical ability," performing in front of audiences from an early age gave her the confidence to pursue her passion for magic. Finding her niche has now led her to Broadway, where she'll star as one of the Four Horsemen in Now You See Me Live. Illusionists James More and Darcy Oake join mentalist Matthew Pomeroy to complete the quartet. A magician never reveals her tricks, but Lester teases what to expect from the live stage spectacle, which she calls "a full immersive experience," promising, "If magic could be 4D, this is what it would look like."

How did you get into magic?
I fell in love with magic as a kid, like a lot of kids do. I had a magic set, I was doing card tricks for my friends. Around the age of 10, I went with my dad to work. I remember standing in the office and looking around at all these people that were doing the same thing every day, and it just seemed completely terrifying to me. I felt like I'd be completely allergic to the idea of a nine-to-five. Around the same time, I saw a magician at my school, and I made the decision that I had found the furthest possible thing from a nine-to-five. I told both of my parents that I wanted to be a magician. They didn't believe me then, but hopefully they do now.

What do you enjoy most about performing for large audiences?
If I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be the kids in the audience. This being a family show means we get so many kids, so many little girls, and that is the most special thing for me. I get to stand on stage and look out at these little kids that are almost too small to fit in their theater seats, and they look at you like you're superheroes and run up to hug you after the show. Especially in an industry where we haven't seen a lot of female representation, it's a really beautiful thing. Little girls get to look up to magic in a way that they haven't before and find some inspiration there.

As one of few female magicians, what does it mean to be the kind of inspiration you might not have had yourself?
I feel like that is the most important thing I do. I remember when I was little I would try so hard to find inspiration, find somebody that looked like me, that was young, that was even a girl, and I couldn't. When I was growing up, there really was nobody in the industry that was like me doing what I wanted to do. So a big part of building my career was trying to be the performer that I wish I could have had to look up to when I was younger. It's really special to get to be a part of a show that does that, but on such a big scale.

What is your relationship to the Now You See Me films?
I saw the first movie when I was nine, around the same time that I was getting into magic, so seeing a character like Henley Reeves was so inspirational and life-changing to me. That was a really pivotal moment. So to play a similar role now for little girls is super special to me.

You're referred to as the Four Horsemen in the show, but are you still playing yourselves?
Yeah, we are ourselves. It's not based on the movies, it's more inspired by them. If you've seen the films, you know that the Horsemen do these live shows. It's as if you lived in that universe and you can buy a ticket to go see the Horsemen live. So we're still the Horsemen, but we're not the movie Horsemen.

What is it like sharing the stage with other world-class magicians?
It's really special to do this kind of art with other people. Magic is very much a solo sport. You're rarely on stage with other artists. We all watch each other from the wings, learn tricks backstage, talk about magic and come up with new ideas. For me especially, being the youngest in the cast, so many of these artists are people I grew up looking up to.

At 14, you made history by completing Houdini’s suspended straitjacket escape. Can you share that story?
I discovered Houdini when I was a pre-teen and completely fell in love with his work. I became fixated on the straitjacket escape when I was maybe 13. One day at school, I hung upside down on the monkey bars, put my arms out, closed my eyes and imagined that I was Harry Houdini. Everyone on the playground thought I was the weirdest person in the world. I sat my mom down and told her, "I'm going to hang upside down from a crane or from a firetruck and do the Harry Houdini straitjacket escape, maybe on fire. I haven't decided the logistics yet." She was like, "Yeah, whatever, kid. Maybe stick to card tricks." Six months after I came up with the idea, I did it for the first time in my school theater for about 1,400 kids.

How did it go?
I remember I was upside down and I could hear so many of the kids in the audience laughing. I'm just grateful that I had this vision and knew what I was doing was bigger than this one moment. It became one of the things that I was most known for, the first thing I ever did on national TV, and it's taken me around the world. I'm very grateful that I got over the sound of the laughter.

Can you tease any of the illusions in Now You See Me Live?
One moment in the show that's really special is an effect that involves the entire audience. Everybody in the audience is doing something in their hands. It's the one part of the show where you're doing the magic trick along with the performers on stage and it gets the loudest reaction. It's the thing that I think people talk about the most, because it's one thing to see it on stage, but it's another to experience it in your hands. So if you come to the show, just look out for that part.

Is there audience interaction or an opportunity to come up on stage?
There's lots of interaction. We bring people on stage, we go out into the audience, it really feels like a full immersive experience. If magic could be 4D, this is probably what it would look like.

What else can audiences expect?
You're getting a little bit of everything: stage magic, close-up magic, comedy magic, mentalism, escapes. There are big illusions on stage and close-up magic in the audience. We have moments filled with laughter and moments where it's completely silent. We're sharing our stories, we're getting stories from the audience. Whether you've seen a magic show before or this is your first magic show ever, I really think it's the best way to get to experience magic. Come into the show and prepare to just feel like a little kid. Let go of trying to figure out how everything is done. The show is just as fun for us to do as I think it is to watch, so I hope you get to see our joy, too.

You've been on major stages around the world. Does Broadway hold special significance?
I always thought I would do Broadway and then retire. This might be the coolest thing I've ever done. I'm over the moon excited. The top of my bucket list since I've been a little kid is to do Broadway. It's what I fell asleep at night dreaming of doing every single day, so I have no words and also a million words at the same time. I don't think I will be retiring after this, but I could.

You're just gearing up for Broadway, but is there anything else you're working on or looking forward to?
Right now, I'm really trying to take in Broadway and where I am now. You dream forever about one thing and then as soon as you get it, it feels like less of a dream. If I told little Gabriella she was about to do Broadway, she would be passing out. So for the first time in my life, I'm trying to really be grateful for where I am now and enjoy this. If you walk by the theater, I'm sure you'll see me standing there, looking at the marquee in complete disbelief.

Now You See Me Live begins performances November 11 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. Get tickets!