Review Roundup: STALKER Opens at New World Stages

Swedish street magicians and illusionists Peter Brynolf and Jonas Ljung achieved the impossible by stumping the legendary Penn & Teller on the first season of their long-running television show, “Penn & Teller: Fool Us!” Now Penn & Teller return the favor by producing Brynolf & Ljung in their New York theatrical debut, Stalker, which combines street magic, stunning illusions and physical mentalism, leaving audiences both thrilled and mystified.

In today’s society, no one is hidden. Everyone is being stalked, and everyone has become a stalker. Stalker is an innovative 90-minute magic show by the Swedish duo Peter Brynolf and Jonas Ljung. Get ready for fast-paced entertainment combining street magic and physical mentalism – with a climactic plot twist that you’ll never see coming.

Directed by “Eurovision” mastermind Edward Af Sillén, Stalker just celebrated its opening night Off-Broadway at New World Stages. Check out what the critics are saying about the new show!

Kyle Turner, New York Theatre Guide: It’s a strangely icy magic show, with none of the goth vibes of a Chris Angel or the whimsy of Penn and Teller. While framing a show around the lack of privacy in the modern age is compelling, Stalker emerges as muddled, split between wanting to demystify magic and still leave audiences in awe of it.

Roma Torre, New York Stage Review: The show’s theme is that cyber culture has made us all vulnerable to stalking. And with the explosion of social media, we are all capable of being stalkers ourselves. They insist their “psychic” skills involve mental manipulation in which they are able to plant images in our heads through various associations and vice-versa. Still hard to believe when we see them reading our minds with consistent accuracy. And yet it’s hard to disbelieve them when they rely so heavily on random audience participation. Take this example: they ask a volunteer to leaf through a random book and pick out a word that only the volunteer knows. And then Ljung starts guessing the word, sounding out the letters one by one.

Suzanna Bowling, Time Square Chronicles: They also amazed and baffled famed magicians, entertainers, and scientific skeptics, the legendary Penn & Teller on the first season of their long-running television show, “Penn & Teller: Fool Us!” Penn & Teller decided that Brynolf and Ljung deserved a chance and have decided to produce their New York theatrical debut, with Stalker. This show combines street magic, illusions and physical mentalism, leaving you mystified. My only complaint would be the directed by “Eurovision” Edward Af Sillén. The magic is mind boggling, but how it’s presented is not. In order to get the most out of this show offer to participate.

Charles Isherwood, The Wall Street Journal: Written by the performers with Edward af Sillén, who also directs, “Stalker” returns to that fellow in the audience with a copy of his chosen image inside a sealed envelope for its finale. And, remarkably, after the big reveal, the pair proceed—as Penn & Teller have sometimes done—to demonstrate precisely how they had (mentally) coerced their subject into choosing the image he did, pulling back the proverbial curtain in a manner that all but breaks the unofficial Code of the Magicians, I would assume. But given the many wonder-inducing moments that have come before, I doubt they need worry about having their union cards confiscated.

Average Rating: 72.5%