There Will Be Wonderful Surprises
Avrom Karl Surath

Le Grand Story – Robert Charles, Eugene Burger and I have made it a Thanksgiving tradition to head to Massachusetts for a long weekend of magic, good food, swell company and plenty of laughs. We stay at the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, which is situated beside the town commons and this year afforded breathtaking views of autumn trees still colored burnt orange, flaming yellow, brown and gold. We met up again with our good friends from Arizona, Bryce Kuhlman and Jenny Pauls. The five of us were joined by two other couples, the Dymonds, from Las Vegas, and Sarlot and Eyde, from Tucson. Believe me: You haven’t vacationed until you’ve traveled with eight magical performers. The highlights of our excursions to the Boston area always include a visit with Ray Goulet at his Magic Art Studio in Watertown and two performances, at two different theaters, of Le Grand David, a stage spectacle now in its 32nd consecutive year in Beverly. There Will Be Wonderful Surprises tells the remarkable story of Cesareo Palaez, a Cuban refugee who came to America, studied with Abraham Maslow at Brandeis University and founded a stage magic company centered around David Bull (Le Grand David himself), Cesareo (performing as Marco the Magi) and an ensemble of merry performers who inspire you to feel a sense of wonder as if for the first time. I had the opportunity to speak near the end of our stay with Henry Lewis, the curator emeritus of London’s famed Magic Circle who we also saw perform over the weekend. Henry observed that one difference between Le Grand David and other magic shows is that Le Grand David is about “conjuring” while other shows are just about “magic.” A keen observation. At several moments during Le Grand David I always find myself with the smallest tears slipping from the corners of my eyes; and even after all of these visits, my tears of sheer joy always come as a surprise.