While there are those who go to sleep looking at apartments on Idealista, Antonio Díaz, better known as Mago Pop, says he has always preferred to look for abandoned theaters and cinemas to buy. After acquiring the Teatre Victòria in Barcelona the year before the pandemic, the illusionist from Badia de Vallès has announced that he has decided to add another venue to his portfolio, this time in the United States, located in the city of Branson, in the state of Missouri. "I am overcome by excitement. There are two Antonios: the one who gets carried away by his heart and the one who crunches all the numbers," Díaz said, a little "nervous," this Monday on the most important day of his professional career due to the presentation of his arrival this August on Broadway, a bit overshadowed by his latest purchase: "it's great to work but in life you have to throw confetti."
The Encore Theatre, renamed Branson Magic Theater, with 2,800 seats, will become his base of operations across the Atlantic, from where he can tour other American cities, taking advantage of its practically central location: "We have a long-term plan in the United States and we want to grow." Without revealing the investment figure for the theater's purchase, López explained that the renovations needed will be minimal because it is like new. Originally intended to host conventions, the theater is located in what they call "the Las Vegas for family audiences," with 10 million visitors a year and more than 50 theaters in the city programming a hundred shows at the same time. Oh, and neighbors like Dolly Parton and Tiger Woods. Even The Simpsons dedicate an episode to it.
Mago Pop and his team will land at the Branson Magic Theater after Sant Jordi, when they will perform their last show of Nada Es Imposible at the Teatre Victòria, where he has attracted 2.8 million spectators since he bought it in 2019. They will not yet debut their magic in Missouri and will wait until May 2024, but their arrival will help them understand how that entertainment ecosystem works, with a museum dedicated to Titanic and golf courses, and prepare for Broadway, "a professional and vital dream."
The Catalan magician will perform for the first time in New York on August 17, 2023. Although he will do so three years later than planned before the pandemic, he will still be the youngest illusionist to set foot on Broadway ---among many other titles he keeps accumulating---. For five weeks, a "very similar" Nada Es Imposible to the one seen in Spain will take over the stage of the Ethel Barrymore Theater, adapting the jokes to the United States and translating the show into English. Stars such as Marlon Brando, Katharine Hepburn, Judie Dench, Maggie Smith, and Sigourney Weaver have also graced the stage where Mago Pop will perform. With more than 1,000 seats, tickets have been on sale since this Monday.
After this first season on Broadway, Mago Pop will return to Barcelona in October: "The Teatre Victòria is my home and I want to live here." His idea is to spend a couple of months in New York and tour the United States, but always returning to the Catalan capital and his Badia del Vallès, to which he is "very attached." "I'm always scared, but it excites me incredibly," explained the illusionist who finances, without partners or external investors, his entire project, with a staff of more than 100 people. And Díaz, who never loses the smile in his eyes, recalled when just ten years ago he couldn't even pay the technician who accompanied him in his shows, which were seen in less massive forums such as the local channel La Xarxa or the Mostra de Igualada.