Penn and Teller on Broadway (Broadway) (2015)

In their 40th anniversary as a duo, Penn and Teller return to New York for a limited engagement at the Marquis Theater.  They present their classic tricks and illusions as a retrospective of sorts on their illustrious career.  Penn brings his signature comedy to magic, while Teller keeps up his mime persona throughout.  Teller conducts his acts in utter silence, commanding the room with nothing but masterful sleight-of-hand.  Penn shows off some of his other talents, singing on Broadway, and playing the double bass.

Their tricks are not big David Copperfield-style stunts.  The act is as much about comedy as it is about magic, and carnival tricks.  This is small magic that is difficult to see if you're not sitting in the first row. They use cameras sparingly, addressing this in one of the acts.  If they use a camera to show a close-up, then you won't pay attention to them, you'll just be watching the screen.  And they make a valid point.

After the show, Penn and Teller stuck around in the lobby of the Mariott Hotel to take pictures and sign autographs.  Teller speaks! and he is a master selfie-taker.  He is funny, approachable and personable. Surprisingly enough, Penn is the more reserved one.  Guess it is all just an act.

Fantasia (1940) & Fantasia 2000 (1999)

Walt Disney's experimental classic still plays well 75 years after its premiere and is better than Roy Disney's follow up in 2000.  It is a novel idea to compile a series of unrelated short films into one much-needed introduction to classical music, excellent for young children and adults alike.  The only things connecting short films are the orchestra and the animation. Fantasia 2000 tried to update the look with computer animation,  such as the strange looking whales in Respighi's Pines of Rome.  But not veering too far from the original,  2000 brings back Dukas's Sorcerer's Apprentice,  perhaps the most iconic sequence from the original and perhaps from the entire Disney canon.   The movie reinforces the idea that good storytelling does not require words or even actors.   It displays the power of music to convey a story and showcases some of the greatest pieces humanity has produced. My personal favorites are Stravinsky's Firebird and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, both from the 2000 version.  I greatly appreciate the look of hand drawn animation.  Both show complete storytelling, even with complex intertwining stories in a Depression era New York, really embodying Gershwin.  There are some weaker shorts, in which the animation is made up mostly of dancing lines and shapes, which compared to the other shorts comes off as a little lazy.