Saturday, January 6, 7 p.m.
TaxSlayer Center, 1201 River Drive, Moline IL
Moline's TaxSlayer Center opens its 2018 schedule in magical fashion with the January 6 arrival of nationally touring illusionist Mike Super, the only magician in U.S. history to win a live magic competition on prime-time network television.
A native of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania who makes upwards of 200 tour stops per year, the 41-year-old Super started doing magic at the age of six after he witnessed sleight-of-hand tricks being performed at a Walt Disney World magic shop. His performances as a high-school illusionist helped pay for his enrollment at the University of Pittsburgh, where he eventually majored in Computer Science, and in 2007, he emerged as the champion of the first and only season of NBC's Phenomenon. Winning for a trick in which one of the show's celebrity guests grabbed a dollar bill from a money machine and the prestidigitator correctly identified its serial number, Super was awarded a prize of $250,000, and earned a professional nickname based on the show's title: “The Phenomenon.”
In the years since, Super has been a quarter-finalist on the ninth season of NBC's America's Got Talent, appeared on three TV specials in France, and was chosen to make Ellen DeGeneres magically appear from the shadows for a “Magic Week” feature on her syndicated talk show. Super was also named Entertainer of the Year by Campus Activities Magazine – along with citations as Best Male Entertainer, Best Performing Artist, and Best Novelty Entertainer – and has received two Merlin awards from the International Society of Magicians.
Tickets to Mike Super's night of illusions are $19.50-59.50, and can be reserved by calling (800)745-3000 or visiting TaxSlayerCenter.com.
