Have you ever wondered who entertains the ultra-rich and famous?
Meet “the Millionaires’ Magician,” Steve Cohen – the mastermind behind the mind-bending magic show, Chamber Magic.
Celebrities, billionaires, and Royals from around the globe are willing to pay top-dollar to experience the magic themselves.
Whether it be at a palace in Dubai, or on a yacht in the middle of the ocean, Cohen has made a name for himself amongst the world’s most influential people.
Currently, the world-renowned magician is performing at the ultra-luxurious Lotte New York Palace, allowing guests to feel like a billionaire for the night (at a much more attainable cost).
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With only 64 seats available per show, Chamber Magic is one of the most exclusive shows in New York City.
We sat down with the maven himself for an exclusive look at the magic that happens behind the curtain.
There are plenty of magic shows in NYC. What differentiates yours from the rest? In other words, what’s your secret to success?
Chamber Magic has played over 6000 live performances, for over half a million people.
Couples get dressed up in their finest cocktail attire and get their minds blown for ninety minutes straight. It’s a super romantic, and fun evening – the ultimate date night. People would assume that “magic show” equals “children,” but I’ve recreated the category and made it an adult night out
When I started Chamber Magic in 2000, there weren’t “plenty of magic shows!” I pioneered the concept of a close-up magic show in a luxury hotel setting. Over time, magicians both in New York and around the world have used my show as a model, and have opened close-up shows of their own.
When I started, social media didn’t exist, the only mobile phones sold were flip phones, and people got their news from printed newspapers and magazines.
Each magic show I performed bore tremendous importance because I relied 100% on word of mouth. The tricks had to be great, and those tricks also needed to be easily describable, so audiences could succinctly explain to their friends what they had experienced.
The location of the show is equally important. Chamber Magic is held in one of New York City’s landmark historical hotels, in a ballroom that makes you feel you are in Versailles. The moment you enter the showroom, you know you’re in for a special experience because everything around you is grand, including marble pillars, antique murals, crystal chandeliers, and Persian rugs.
Many visitors enjoy Chamber Magic more than Broadway shows because the audience is completely involved from beginning to end. The show is richly interactive, and everyone is invited to participate in a meaningful way. The magic doesn’t just happen in your mind, it often happens in your own hands
You’re known as the “Millionaires’ Magician.” How have you cultivated such a high-profile community of followers? What responsibility do you feel when performing for the world’s most influential people?
I’ve gotten to meet some of the most interesting people in the world over the past 22 years. I’m known as the “Millionaires’ Magician” but have had many billionaires in the audience too! Often they’re so impressed that they invite me to perform privately in their homes, yachts, and private islands. I did a private show at the Waldorf Astoria for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and that has led to many shows for the Saudi royal family
You never know who might show up – movie stars, television icons, music idols, people we all have grown up watching. Suddenly I look out and see them watching me. It was a thrill to have Guillermo del Toro in the front row on several occasions. Another time, astronaut Buzz Aldrin let me use his ring in a trick – it was the same ring he wore on the moon
No matter who is in the audience, I get to see people transform from skeptics… to participants… to believers, by the end of the night. I can tell that they’re engaged by looking into their eyes. This is a close-up magic experience, so there is no big stage. I can tell when I’m connecting with people since it’s all on a human level.
Not only are you a magician, but an entrepreneur. What advice would you give young people aspiring to build a world-recognized brand?
Have something unique that people can talk about. Don’t be lumped in with other people in your category – become a category of one. Also, remember that I am not competing against other magicians. I am competing with every other form of entertainment NYC has to offer: ballet, opera, movies, Broadway, off-Broadway, concerts, and comedy clubs. Make sure your marketing is on-par with what the public is used to seeing.
But ultimately, you have to be exceptionally good. It’s easy to get people in the door once. But to compel people to return multiple times, and spread the word to their social circle requires that you have an exceptionally good offering.
Jesse James said he robbed banks because “that’s where the money is.” I realized early on that if I wanted to create longevity in my career as a magician, I too would need to go where the money is.
Technically I am not a businessman, but I’ve learned to think like one. In order to feed my magic passion, I realized that I needed to create a replicable model that could create a regular flow of income. The more performances I could give to good-sized audiences, the faster my reputation would spread via word of mouth. If audiences were too small, the message could not possibly travel far and wide.
It was a matter of survival of the fittest. If I wanted to stay active as a professional, I needed to respond to requests to entertain at private functions with 75 to 100 guests. So I kept that in mind and developed a show that was appropriate for that size group. The Waldorf Astoria believed in me early on, and allowed me to rent the same suite every week, promote my show, and build a real business.
When the Waldorf Astoria closed for renovations in 2017, I received offers from several top NYC hotels that wanted to present the show at their properties. It was a matter of finding the best room, the best staff, the best user experience, and the most gorgeous and “Instagrammable” venue. The Lotte New York Palace ticked off all of those boxes. And, it’s only one block away from my old venue, so it’s easy for fans to find me.
You deem your magic shows a “demonstration of modern conjuring.” In layman’s terms, what does this mean? How does it differ from traditional forms of magic?
I aim to create a genuine bond with each audience member. In a theater, the lights are often so bright that you cannot see your audience's eyes from the stage. I like to be able to see the whites of their eyes, and directly engage individual spectators on a personal level. My demeanor is subtle and my voice is not grand enough for a large stage. I work without a microphone and prefer the intimacy of parlor magic. It is the biggest form of close-up magic that I am comfortable performing.
Do you believe that the suspension of disbelief is required to enjoy your shows?
I start with skill, and end with wizardry. I move from the possible to the impossible. The show is a progression of guiding people into acceptance that a magical world may indeed be present.
It’s very difficult to snag a ticket to your show! What is your thought process behind this exclusivity? Do you think this prohibits the democratization of the craft?
Growing up in Chappaqua, I was surrounded by wealth. I became comfortable performing magic for people who were extremely rich. It was Darwinian - in order to impress people who could afford anything they wanted, I had to get really good, really fast.
Years later, when I started my public show Chamber Magic, a reporter came to one of the early performances and noticed that the people who self-selected to be there were all affluent. She called me “the millionaires’ magician” in her magazine article, and that title seemed like a good descriptor that people could mentally latch on to.
My best friend Mark Levy is a marketing and positioning expert, and he encouraged me to go all in. He told me to raise my rates, and not accept any gigs that didn't match my new target clientele - the decadently rich. He said, “If you aren't willing to give up the $2000 job, you'll never get the $20,000 job.” This new mindset inspired me to position myself as the high fruit on the tree that people would have to reach for.
It is said that your show “transports guests back to a simpler time.” How are you able to achieve such?
I modeled my style on a famous Viennese magician from the late 19th century, Johann Nepomuk Hofzinser, inviting high society into an intimate environment for a sophisticated evening of story-telling and magic. The show begins with demonstrations of skill, to establish my credentials with the audience, and then progresses further and further into inexplicable acts that cannot be ascribed to skill. By the end of the ninety-minute show, my goal is to leave audiences with no other solution other than, “It must be magic.”
What’s next for you?
I plan to keep going with performing Chamber Magic at the Lotte New York Palace for many years to come. I occasionally go on the road, once or twice a year, to perform the show at luxury hotels in other cities such as Chicago, Beverly Hills, and London. But those tours are intentionally short, and I do not have any plan to criss-cross the globe performing at different hotels each week. I love having a home base, and I love that people come to me, instead of me going to them.
I am also working on a television project about my hero, the magician Max Malini who entertained kings, queens, emperors, czars, and four US Presidents. Those are my kind of gigs.
Photography by: Courtesy Chamber Magic
