PRESTO!

By T.E. Kalem

THE MAGIC SHOW

Book by BOB RANDALL

Music and Lyrics by STEPHEN SCHWARTZ

and DOUG HENNING

Oldtime magicians seemed to breathe the hooded air of the occult. They were like satanists in white ties. Canadian-born Doug Henning, 27, is not at all like that. Physically wispy, amiably diffident and almost self-surprised, he creates the impression of a boyish Walter Mitty who imagines that he could be a magician.

Nothing could be more misleading. Henning is a master illusionist. Traditionally, he saws a woman in half, and the boxed halves are trolleyed on-and offstage during a good part of the evening. A man has a sword thrust through his middle. A woman is burned to a smoldering crisp. Instantaneously, a live dove becomes a live rabbit. At the whisk of a drape, a girl in a cage is transformed into a young cougar.

So far, so wonderful. But the saccharine little musical story in which the magic is encased is frowzy theatrical taxidermy. We are asked to believe that Passaic, N.J., harbors a tacky nightclub called the Top Hat, which features girl song duos and magic acts. The songs that Stephen Schwartz and Henning have provided seem to have been composed under water and piped directly from the ocean floor in all their gurgly indecipherability. The Top Hat, where Henning is a promising neophyte, has as its resident magician an alcoholic hack. In the role, David Ogden Stiers flutters a few pages of Bob Randall's life less book with a rich parody of Barrymore `a la ham. A myopically talent-scouting producer spots this sorry lot and, mesmerized by the redoubtable Henning, books them for Broadway, where they will remain unless the cou gar gets loose some night.

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